News archive

Lisa Westerberg has been appointed Professor of Experimental Immunology at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology from 1 January 2024.

KI researcher Birgitta Henriques Normark is a newly elected fellow of IVA (the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences). IVA works to build bridges between academia, business and politics, and promotes people's ability to make a positive contribution to society through technical and economic sciences.

A new study by Claudia Kutter’s research group at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology (MTC) has identified potential pitfalls in the use of the gene editing technique CRISPR-Cas9, a gene scissors that is used for cancer treatments.

The Consolidator Grant within Medicine and Health from the Swedish Research Council has been awarded to Georgios Sotiriou at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology at Karolinska Institutet. The project aims to develop a holistic therapy of chronic wounds using nanoengineered solutions.

In the Swedish Research Council's (VR) latest call for medicine and health 2023, research grants of 49 645 000 SEK were distributed to 11 researchers at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, for the years 2023-2028.

The government has appointed Jan Albert, professor of infectious disease control at Karolinska Institutet and senior consultant at Karolinska University Hospital, to lead a government inquiry looking into strengthening the country’s preparedness for future pandemics. The directive concerns a national strategy for how pandemics are to be managed and a possible revision of the Communicable Diseases Act. The investigation should be delivered in February 2025.

Susanne Nylén at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology at KI, is leading a project that has been awarded a four-year grant from the Dutch foundation Dioraphte for research on the pathogenesis of post-kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis (PKDL) and leprosy. The total amount awarded is 850 000 euros.

KI researcher Yihai Cao and his research group at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, have defined a new biomarker for predicting drug resistance of antiangiogenic therapy for the treatment of various cancers. The study is published in PNAS.

KI researchers Georgios Sotiriou and Haipeng Li at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology have developed an inexpensive, fast, and reproducible manufacturing process of nanosensors for food safety diagnostics. A new study in Chemical Engineering Journal shows that the sensors can detect pesticides in fresh orange juice.

In a recently published article published in Nature Reviews Drug Discovery, Professor Yihai Cao’s research group at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, charts the information about drug development for the treatment of a number of human diseases by targeting new blood vessel formation.

The first detailed description of the microbiota and immune cells among asymptomatic Helicobacter pylori-infected individuals has been published by researchers at Karolinska Institutet. The results of the study will be instrumental to understand the complex microbiome and immunity network and provide new insights for asymptomatic Helicobacter pylori infection.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have identified the bacteria most commonly found in severe oral infections. Few such studies have been done before, and the team now hopes that the study can provide deeper insight into the association between oral bacteria and other diseases. The study is published in Microbiology Spectrum.

Georgios Sotiriou, principal researcher at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, and his colleagues have developed a durable coating for medical devices which is activated by light, providing on-demand disinfection. The findings are presented in a publication in Chemical Engineering Journal.

Sylvain Peuget, assistant professor at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology at Karolinska Institutet and his team has received 250,000 USD from the Swiss Bridge Foundation. The grant is aimed for continued research to investigate what role that certain bacteria in our intestinal flora play in the development and progression of colorectal cancer.

In a recently published article in the journal Trends in Microbiology, author Alberto J. Martin-Rodriguez, Senior Research Specialist at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology at Karolinska Institutet, explains how he found that distinct bacterial strains selectively use respiration for surface colonization.

In a study recently published in Cell Reports Methods, co- authors Björn Önfelt, Niklas Sandström and Valentina Carannante, researchers at SciLifeLab and the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology at Karolinska Institutet, describes a new miniaturized method for high-content screening combined with high-resolution imaging, all in the same microchip.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have identified a new vaccine candidate against pneumococci, bacteria that can cause pneumonia, sepsis, and meningitis. The vaccine molecules comprise nano-sized membrane vesicles produced by the bacteria and provide protection in mice, a new study published in PNAS reports.

A new study shows that the menstrual phase has effects on the microbiome. “This will be very important for planning future studies, both in basic science and for interventions aiming to improve the vaginal microbiome”, corresponding author Ina Schuppe Koistinen at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell biology at Karolinska Institutet, says.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet recently published a study in NPJ Biofilms and Microbiomes, that describes the findings of an enzyme that breaks down lipids.

The Svedberg prize 2022 is awarded to Ben Murrell, Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, for his work characterizing antibody responses to viruses, especially the virus SARS-CoV-2.

The Selivanova's group at MTC recently established a multidisciplinary collaboration together with Dr. Marie-Stéphanie Aschtgen, microbiologist in the Henriques-Normark groups (also at MTC) to study the interplay between bacteria and cancer, focusing on how specific bacterial systems influence host tumor supressors. Together they recently got their first collaborative paper accepted in Oncogene, entitled "Enterobacteria impair host p53 tumor suppressor activity through mRNA destabilization".

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have discovered a mechanism through which meningitis-causing bacteria can evade our immune system. In laboratory tests, they found that Streptococcus pneumoniae and Haemophilus influenzae respond to increasing temperatures by producing safeguards that keep them from getting killed. This may prime their defenses against our immune system and increase their chances of survival, the researchers say. The findings are published in PLoS Pathogens.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet show how a certain type of immune cells, macrophages, can be recruited into breast cancer tumors, where they are reprogrammed to support and drive tumor growth. In a study published in the scientific journal PNAS, they describe that low levels of the tumor suppressor protein TAp73 lead to hyperactivation of NFkB signaling and an inflammatory condition in breast cancer as well as secretion of molecules that recruit tumor-promoting macrophages into the tumor.

It is largely unknown why influenza infections lead to an increased risk of bacterial pneumonia. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have now described important findings leading to so-called superinfections, which claim many lives around the world every year. The study is published in the journal PNAS, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and can also contribute to research on COVID-19.

A new study from Karolinska Institutet shows that 1 in 5 patients admitted for acute myocardial infarction are infected with Helicobacter pylori and that it is possible to introduce screening for this bacterium in routine care. The results are published in the American Heart Journal. The researchers are now planning a large randomised trial to find out whether screening and treatment of the infection reduces the risk of stomach bleeding and improves cardiovascular outcomes in this patient group.

Georgios Sotiriou, Researcher at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology receives the Smoluchowski award for his research contribution to the fields of aerosol science and technology. The award consists of a certification and a personal prize of 2.000 €.

KI researcher Federico Iovino has been awarded the Bjarne Ahlström's Minnesfonds pris 2020 (Bjarne Ahlström’s Memorial Fund Prize 2020) for his research in Clinical Neurology and on the study of inflammatory mechanisms that affect the function of the central or peripheral nervous system. The prize which consists of SEK 1000,000 is awarded annually and is distributed partly as an individual prize of SEK 50,000, partly as a research grant of SEK 950,000.

The enzyme dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (DHODH), an essential component for the de novo pyrimidine ribonucleotide biosynthesis, has reemerged in the last few years as a target for the development of small molecules with anticancer and antiviral activity.

Researchers from Karolinska Institutet in collaboration with a lab in San Antonio USA, have uncovered how a specific population of lymphocytes promotes autoimmune disease by giving up their regulatory role in the immune system. The newly discovered mechanism is published in PNAS from research led by Dr. Saikiran Sedimbi and Prof. Mikael Karlsson.

Using a trick involving detergent and mass spectrometry, a research group has been able to wash and weigh protein molecules to determine which lipids make the protein work. The findings may help design molecules that stick to individual membrane proteins and pave the way for the development of new drugs including antibiotics and cancer therapies. The study is published in Angewandte Chemie International Edition.

Recently discovered immune cells called MAIT cells play a key role in group A streptococcal toxic shock, researchers at Karolinska Institutet report. The results, which are published in the journal PNAS, have potential implications for the diagnosis and treatment of this life-threatening condition.

The five-year Million Microbiome of Humans Project (MMHP) is now underway, as KI researchers begin leading the efforts to construct a genome atlas of the human microbiome.

A type of immune cell called neutrophils could be responsible for controlling bacterial numbers of an antibiotic-resistant strain of Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) on human skin before the bacteria get a chance to invade, according to a new study from Karolinska Institutet published in Cell Reports. The results could provide an explanation for why this superbug is only carried transiently by some people.

An international team of researchers, led from Karolinska Institutet, has identified two receptors on the cells in the blood vessels of the brain that can be blocked and thereby prevent pneumococci from entering the brain. The study, which is published in The Journal of Experimental Medicine, shows that the use of antibodies that block the receptors can potentially be used as a new therapeutic strategy for pneumococcal meningitis.