News archive

On 26 November an experiment in a sounding rocket was launched at Esrange Space Center in Kiruna, Sweden by a research group at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology (MTC) at Karolinska Institutet. The researchers aims to collect data for a study that examines how a type of immune cell, T cells, are affected by lack of gravity, called microgravity.

In a recent study published in Nature Communications, scientists at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology at Karolinska Institutet, in collaboration with Michigan State University, have introduced an innovative approach to improve plasma proteome profiling. The method enables the detection of low-abundance proteins in plasma.

The Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet) has decided on grant applications within Medicine and Health 2024. Researchers at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology were granted over 36 Mkr together.

Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun share this year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. They are being awarded for their discovery of microRNAs, which play a crucial role in the development of complex organisms. Research is underway at Karolinska Institutet on how these small molecules can be applied clinically.

Errors during cell division can lead to conditions such as cancer and infertility. Jan Ellenberg studies the molecular processes of cell division in order that these diseases can eventually be prevented and treated. Meet one of the new professors of Karolinska Institutet who will participate in this year's installation ceremony at Aula Medica on 3 October.

A new study from Karolinska Institutet published in Nature Communications provides valuable insights into the activation of receptors on the cell surface. The knowledge opens up for new targeted therapies and drugs against intestinal tumours, among other things.

The SciLifeLab board has appointed Professor Jan Ellenberg as the new director. Alongside this role, Professor Ellenberg will also be appointed as a professor at Karolinska Institutet and affiliated professor at Stockholm University and KTH (Royal Institute of Technology). He succeeds Professor Olli Kallioniemi, who has served as SciLifeLab director since 2015.

A study conducted by researcher Juan Du's research group at the Karolinska Institutet sheds light on the capabilities of our gut microbes and their metabolites. The findings reveal potent inhibitory effects on the growth of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and suggest interactions and signaling between gut microbes and pathogens.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have developed a web-based platform that provides a whole new insight into the human body at the cellular level. The aim is to create an invaluable resource for researchers worldwide to increase knowledge about human health and disease. The study is published in Genome Biology.

After the egg has been fertilized by a sperm, the surrounding egg coat tightens, mechanically preventing the entry of additional sperm and the ensuing death of the embryo. This is according to a new study led by researchers at Karolinska Institutet and published in the journal Cell. The work also explains how mutations in egg coat proteins can cause female infertility and may eventually lead to new contraceptive methods.

A new publication in Nature Communications from researchers at Karolinska Institutet solves a long-standing problem by establishing a system that allows site-specific protein degradation within mitochondria, the cellular hubs for energy production and metabolism.

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.

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.

In two parallel projects, researchers at Karolinska Institutet have been involved in creating the most comprehensive atlases of human brain cells to date. The two studies, which are published in Science, provide clues on different brain diseases and give hope for medical advancements in the future, such as new cancer drugs.

Cardiogenic growth factors play important roles in heart development and in a new study published in the scientific paper Nature Communications from researchers at Karolinska Institutet shows how stem cell therapeutics and mRNA technology are beginning to converge offering major improvements in vascularization, survival, expansion, differentiation, and ultimately the function of human stem cell grafts.

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.

The 5D Heart Patch Project, led by Prof Kenneth Chien, has identified human ventricular progenitor (HVP) cells that can create self-assembling heart grafts in vivo. The research has the potential to offer hope to millions of people suffering from heart failure.

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.

PhD student Pradeepa Pushparaj, in Gunilla Karlsson Hedestam’s group at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology, is the first author of a study recently published in Immunity. The study explains how antibody genes can influence the ability to make neutralizing antibodies to SARS-CoV-2.

Two KI researchers – Simon Elsässer and Magda Bienko – have been awarded 2022 European Research Council (ERC) Consolidator Grants totaling four million euro (nearly 45 million Swedish kronor). The funds will support two ambitious basic research projects that aim to further our understanding of the complex nature of our cells.

Nano-sized membrane bubbles known as extracellular vesicles activate the immune system in mice and seem to render their tumours sensitive to a type of immunotherapy drug called a checkpoint inhibitor. This is according to a new study published in Cancer Immunology Research by researchers at Karolinska Institutet.

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.

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.

Professor Yihai Cao, Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell biology, is the corresponding author of a study recently published in PNAS, explaining how brown adipose tissue (BAT) can be increased in the adult human body.

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 study from Karolinska Institutet, among others, presents the theory that egg-sperm fusion, a crucial feature of sexual reproduction in plants and animals, may have originated from an ancient form of genetic exchange that involved the fusion of bacteria-like microorganisms called archaea. The results, published in Nature Communications, may open an entirely new perspective on the evolution of sex.

Using advanced microscopy techniques, researchers at Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm University have visualized in unprecedented detail the machinery that the cells’ powerhouses, the mitochondria, use to form their proteins. The results, which are published in Nature, raise hopes of more specific antibiotics and new cancer drugs in the future.

Researchers from Karolinska Institutet identify an epigenetic regulator controlling the very first cell type specification in the human embryo. The study is published in Nature Cell Biology.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet, Germany’s Technical University of Munich (TUM) and AstraZeneca, among others, have identified a unique therapeutic approach with the potential to restore heart function following a heart attack. The new findings rely on so-called human ventricular progenitor (HVP) cells to promote novel heart tissue and reduce scarring after injury. This pre-clinical study is published in the journal Nature Cell Biology.

Primary cilia are signaling structures projecting off cell surfaces like antennae. In humans, many different cell types are ciliated. The molecular underpinnings of making and maintaining ciliary identities and functional specializations often are crucial for cell functionality. Recently, researchers have found how the main ciliogenic transcription factor protein controlling overall cilia biology can switch to control ciliary specializations and thereby alters cell behavioral output.

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.

A new study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet shows that the local activity of the signaling molecule Rac1 controls cycles of microscopic protrusions and retractions of the cell membrane. The cell uses these cycles to sense its surroundings, which among other things affects the cell's ability to move. Understanding of the cellular and molecular mechanisms that control cell movements, can help us to develop better diagnostics and treatment of various diseases such as cancer.

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".

From our first breath, our lungs are exposed to microorganisms, such as bacteria and viruses. Thanks to immune cells in the lungs, so-called macrophages, we are protected from most infections at an early age. In a new study published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, researchers from Karolinska Institutet show how lung macrophages develop; new findings that can help to reduce organ damage and that are significant for the continued development of important lung disease treatments.

The gold complex auranofin has traditionally been used for treating rheumatism but is also being evaluated as a treatment for certain forms of cancer. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden now show that other molecules that inhibit the same biological system have a more specific effect than auranofin and therefore may have greater potential as cancer therapies. The results have been published in the journal Redox Biology.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have participated in a large international research project that has identified all cell types in the motor cortex, the part of the brain that controls movement. The research has resulted in a detailed cell atlas presented in a large special package of scientific articles in Nature today. The long-term goal of the collaboration is to create a cell atlas of the whole brain in order to increase knowledge of brain diseases and contribute to better treatments.

Scientists hope that tiny sacs of material excreted by cells – so-called extracellular vesicles – can be used to deliver drugs inside the body. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet now show that these nano-bubbles can transport protein drugs that reduce inflammation caused by different diseases. The technique, which is presented in Nature Biomedical Engineering, shows promising results in animal models.

It is well known that fat cells can influence our sensitivity to insulin. Now, researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have discovered that there are three different subtypes of mature fat cells in white adipose tissue and that it is only one of these, called AdipoPLIN, that responds to insulin. The findings may be relevant for future treatments of metabolic diseases such as Type 2 diabetes.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have analysed and described in detail the immune cells residing in the human bile duct. The findings may pave the way for new treatment strategies against disorders of the bile duct, which are often linked to immunological processes. The study is published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

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?

The causes of the serious muscle disease ALS still remain unknown. Now, researchers at Karolinska Institutet and KTH Royal Institute of Technology, among others, have examined a type of cell in the brain blood vessels that could explain the unpredictable disease origins and dynamics. The results indicate a hitherto unknown connection between the nervous and vascular systems. The study, published in Nature Medicine, has potential implications for earlier diagnoses and future treatments.

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.

We can produce spider silk fibers stronger than those created by the spiders themselves. This according to the Professors Jan Johansson (KI) and Anna Rising (KI and SLU).