News archive

Monitoring brain injury biomarkers and glucose variation in patients who have suffered an acute cranial injury during the entire first week of hospitalisation can provide a more accurate picture of the pathological process. This is according to a paper by researchers at Karolinska Institutet published in The Lancet Neurology. It is hoped that their findings can eventually lead to more personalised treatment.

Karolinska Institutet has signed a collaboration agreement with the European research infrastructure EBRAINS, which offers digital tools and services for research into the brain. The purpose of this agreement is to give KI's researchers access to new digital technology and state-of-the-art resources, as well as the opportunity to contribute to the further development of the area of neuroscience within the EU.

Bacterial meningitis is a life-threatening infectious disease of the brain that leaves many survivors with long-lasting neurological impairments. Now, researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden show in a study on rats that the brain’s tool for waste clearance, the glymphatic system, malfunctions during bacterial meningitis, causing a buildup of toxic garbage that damages brain cells. The findings are published in the journal mBio.

The nervous system is known to communicate with the immune system and regulate inflammation in the body. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet now show how electrical activation of a specific nerve can promote healing in acute inflammation. The finding, which is published in the journal PNAS, opens new ways to accelerate resolution of inflammation.

There has to date been no reliable objective method of diagnosing tinnitus. Researchers from Karolinska Institutet now show that brainstem audiometry can be used to measure changes in the brain in people with constant tinnitus. The study has been published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation.

There is a correlation between the ability to understand complex syntax and the fine-motor skills required for manipulating tools. In a new study published in the journal Science, researchers at Karolinska Institutet and the French research institute Inserm show that the same cluster of neurons in the brain are involved in both skills. The study also shows that training with a tool improves language skills and vice versa.

Their researches on the lamprey brain has enabled researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden to push the birth of the cortex back in time by some 300 million years to over 500 million years ago, providing new insights into brain evolution. The study is published in the scientific journal Nature Ecology & Evolution.

People with multiple sclerosis who can walk at a relatively normal speed and effectively process information are more likely to continue to participate in social activities, according to a new study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden published in the Multiple Sclerosis Journal. The findings highlight the importance of integrating motor and cognitive rehabilitation in the care of patients with MS.

Correction: The article “Reduction in Mental Health Treatment Utilization Among Transgender Individuals After Gender-Affirming Surgeries: A Total Population Study,” published in The American Journal of Psychiatry on Oct. 4, 2019, has been corrected following a review of the statistical methodology and some of its conclusions.

Subpopulations of oligodendrocytes, myelin-producing cells in the brain that are targeted by the immune system in multiple sclerosis (MS), are altered in MS and might therefore have additional roles in the disease than previously described. The results are published in the journal Nature, in a study led by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and University of Edinburgh in the UK.

A new study shows that there is a very limited regeneration of cells in the brain of patients diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS). These findings underline the importance of treating MS at an early stage of the disease progression, when the affected cells can repair the damage as they are not replaced by new ones. The results are published in the journal Nature by researchers from Karolinska Institutet and Uppsala University.

A population of ‘stop cells’ in the brainstem is essential for the ability of mice to stop their locomotion, according to a new study by scientists at Karolinska Institutet. In an article published in the journal Cell, they report a brainstem pathway specifically dedicated to enforce locomotor arrest: its selective activation stops locomotion, while its silencing favors it. The study thus identifies a novel descending modality essential for gating the episodic nature of locomotor behavior.

A new study from Karolinska Institutet provides insight on how the brain processes external input such as touch, vision or sound from different sources and sides of the body, in order to select and generate adequate movements. The findings, which are presented in the journal Neuron, show that the striatum acts as a sensory ‘hub’ integrating various types of sensory information, with specialised functional roles for the different neuron types.

Scientists at Karolinska Institutet, together with collaborators in the US, Greece, and Switzerland, have discovered spinal cord neurons involved in regulating the tempo in locomotion such as walking. The study is published in the scientific journal Neuron.

A new registry study, dismiss the long-debated association between celiac disease – gluten intolerance – and increased risk of autism spectrum disorders. The study was led from Karolinska Institutet and is now published in JAMA Psychiatry.

Scientists at Karolinska Institutet have identified the neuronal circuits in the spinal cord of mice that control the ability to produce the alternating movements of the legs during walking. The study, published in the journal Nature, demonstrates that two genetically-defined groups of nerve cells are in control of limb alternation at different speeds of locomotion, and thus that the animals' gait is disturbed when these cell populations are missing.

By taking advantage of a 'body swap' illusion, researchers at Karolinska Institutet have captured the brain regions involved in one of the most fundamental aspects of self-awareness: how we recognize our bodies as our own, distinct from others and from the outside world. The findings, reported in the journal Current Biology, may have important medical and industrial applications.

Researchers at the medical university Karolinska Institutet have created a genetically modified mouse in which certain neurons can be activated by blue light. Shining blue light on brainstems or spinal cords isolated from these mice produces walking-like motor activity. The findings, which are published in the scientific journal Nature Neuroscience, are of potential significance to the recovery of walking after spinal cord injury.