News archive

A new study from Karolinska Institutet discovered that blocking the MYC tumor protein in kidney cancer cells leads to an increase in fat droplets, which are associated with tumor growth. The study provides crucial knowledge for identifying new therapeutic targets for treating this aggressive form of cancer.

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

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.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet and SciLifeLab have combined artificial intelligence (AI) techniques used in satellite imaging and community ecology to interpret large amounts of data from tumour tissue. The method, presented in the journal Nature Communications, could contribute to more personalised treatment of cancer patients.

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.

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.

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.

The widely used gene scissor (CRISPR/Cas) can modify the genetic content in cells to study the molecular roles of genes and has gained great clinical relevance in gene therapy to treat genetic diseases. A new study performed by Claudia Kutter’s research group at the Department of Microbiology, Cell, and Tumor Biology at Karolinska Institutet, found that the gene scissor leads to unexpected genomic changes.

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 new publication in Nature communications, Martin Rottenberg and Ruining Liu, professor and PhD student at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cellbiology, explains how T cell protection against Tuberculosis is controlled by their oxygen responses.

New research from Yihai Cao research group at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cellbiology, MTC, shows that the so-called brown fat in the human body seems to be able to prevent cancer tumors from growing. The result is published by Nature and has been widely disseminated in the media lately.

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.

A new study, published in Science, shows how self-inflicted DNA damage uniquely enables tumor cells to endure the genotoxic effects of radiation therapy, allowing them to survive and contribute to tumor reoccurrence. The findings highlight a cancer-specific survival mechanism that could be targeted and used to enhance the tumor cells’ vulnerability to genotoxic cancer treatments.

The p53 protein protects our cells from cancer and is an interesting target for cancer treatments. The problem is, however, that it breaks down rapidly in the cell. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have now found an unusual way of stabilising the protein and making it more potent. By adding a spider silk protein to p53, they show that it is possible to create a protein that is more stable and capable of killing cancer cells. The study is published in the journal Structure.

Hi there, Johanna Simin, PhD student in Clinical Epidemiology at the Centre for Translational Microbiome Research at Karolinska Institutet! You will defend your thesis entitled "The role of oestrogens and antibiotics on the development of cancer" on 1 June 2021. Can you tell us a little more?

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.

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.

Researchers from Karolinska Institutet discovered that the retinoblastoma associated protein RB and the mitochondrial ribosomal protein S18-2 (MRPS18-2) play the essential roles in homeostasis of cell stemness. Rb1-/- mouse primary cells expressing both, S18-2 and RB exhibited a stem cell phenotype. Downregulation of S18-2 and RB in human mesenchymal stem cells resulted in decreased expression of stem cell-related genes. Loss of the S18-2 protein resulted in embryonic lethality in zebrafish.

In a study recently published in Nature Methods, researchers from Karolinska Institutet and Oxford University have developed a method to identify molecules that are attached to proteins in the membrane.

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.

Researchers from Karolinska Institutet along with clinicians from the Karolinska University Hospital have discovered a new molecular mechanism of cell oncogenic signaling switch, which is induced by platinum chemotherapy and contributes to treatment resistance in ovarian cancer.

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.