News archive

Carsten Daub is newly appointed scientific director for SciLifeLab. He will act as the link for the collaboration between one of Sweden's largest research centers and Karolinska Institutet.

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.

On 1 November 2023, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and Health Minister Acko Ankarberg Johansson, visited Genomic Medicine Sweden (GMS) to learn about the work on precision medicine for improved cancer care. Some of the topics discussed included broad gene sequencing as part of personalised healthcare, as well as the treatment and accessibility of data.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have developed a molecular method able to detect whether or not bacteria respond to antibiotics within minutes. The findings are presented in the journal Nature Microbiology and the researchers now hope to develop a simple test for doctors to use.

This year’s KI-SciLifeLab Symposium brought the community of KI researchers and staff affiliated to SciLifeLab closer together.

Routine diagnostic analyses of mutations in cell-free DNA in patients with metastatic prostate cancer are now possible for the first time in Sweden. The test has been developed by researchers at Karolinska Institutet, and Karolinska University Hospital is now offering the analysis to hospitals around the Nordic region, giving more patients with certain gene mutations access to the cancer treatment they need.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have mapped how cells in the human spinal cord are formed in the embryo and what genes control the process. Their findings can give rise to new knowledge on how injury to and diseases of the spinal cord arise and how they can be treated. The study has been published in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

A team of researchers at Karolinska Institutet, SciLifeLab and Karolinska University Hospital will receive a total of 14.7 million Swedish kronor from the Swedish Research Council (VR). The four-year grant is part of the council’s push to increase accessibility to research infrastructure and will involve making available new technologies for clinical studies in precision medicine.

Karolinska University Hospital and Karolinska Institutet are creating Sweden’s first innovation environment for the development of precision medicine technologies. The decision to establish a join innovation environment for healthcare, research and precision medicine technologies in Solna and Huddinge is a vital step in growing the field of precision medicine.

Karolinska Institutet (KI) has been assigned the task of hosting the national node for data-driven life science in precision medicine and diagnostics. By developing and providing support and optimal conditions, the aim is to drive research in this area forwards regionally, nationally and internationally.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet and SciLifeLab describe in a study published in Science how they have improved the ability of a protein to repair oxidative DNA damage and created a new protein function. Their innovative technique can lead to improved drugs for diseases involving oxidative stress, such as cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and lung diseases, but the researchers believe it has even greater potential.

The 2021 Nobel Prize in Chemistry rewards Benjamin List and David MacMillan for a new and ingenious tool for building molecules, asymmetric organocatalysis, which has contributed to more environmentally friendly chemical and pharmaceutical manufacturing. Here, KI researcher Per I Arvidsson, Head of the Drug Discovery and Development Platform at SciLifeLab, comments on the discovery. He was one of those who introduced organocatalysis in Sweden and believes that the prize was expected.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have developed a technology for cost-effective surveillance of the global spread of new SARS-CoV-2 variants. The technique is presented in the scientific journal Nature Communications.

More than 1,200 people with rare diseases have received a diagnosis thanks to the integration of large-scale genomics into the Stockholm region’s healthcare system. This is according to a study from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden that analysed the result of the first five years of collaboration on whole genome sequencing between Karolinska University Hospital and SciLifeLab. The work, published in Genome Medicine, constitutes a major leap forward in the emerging field of precision medicine.

Both eczema and psoriasis are inflammatory skin diseases that affect many individuals. Now, researchers from Karolinska Institutet and KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Sweden have made progress in mapping new candidate genes for these hereditary skin diseases. This may in the long run open up new ways of treating the diseases. The findings are published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.

Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation (KAW) launches a new research initiative and donates SEK 3.1 billion over 12 years to support data-driven life science and SEK 600 million to extend the existing funding to Science for Life Laboratory and to the Wallenberg Centers for Molecular Medicine. Many new research positions will be established.

More than 10 percent of young and previously healthy people who develop severe COVID-19 have misguided antibodies that attack the immune system itself, and another 3.5 percent carry a specific genetic mutation. This is according to new research published in Science by an international consortium involving researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet and Science for Life Laboratory in Sweden and Tor Vergata University of Rome in Italy have mapped the immune response in children affected by a rare but life-threatening inflammatory syndrome associated with COVID-19. The study, which is published in the scientific journal Cell, reveals that the inflammatory response differs from that in Kawasaki disease and severe acute COVID-19.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have together with researchers in China developed a new diagnostic test for COVID-19. The test can be performed without advanced laboratory equipment and deliver the result in about half an hour, according to a study published in the journal Clinical Chemistry. The researchers are now working on verifying the test results on confirmed COVID-19 patients at the Karolinska University Hospital.