News archive

Amaia Calderon-Larrañaga and Weili Xu are recipients of the Elderly and Ageing 2024 Grant from Forte and will both receive funding for the period 2025-2027.

Patients with frontotemporal dementia often lack the ability to empathize. A study at Karolinska Institutet has now shown that these patients do not show the same brain activity as healthy individuals when they witness the pain of others, a finding that it is hoped will increase understanding of this specific dementia disease.

Common cardiovascular drugs are linked to a lower risk of dementia in older age, according to a new study from Karolinska Institutet published in Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association.

The Swedish Brain Foundation has awarded its grants. NVS received five research grants and one scholarship.

Congratulations to Anna Marseglia, Adrián Carballo Casla, and Minjia Mo, who will share 12.5 million SEK from Forte.

Congratulations to Linn Öijerstedt for receiving financial support by BioArctic for her postdoctoral fellowship in the pursue of finding a marker of TDP-43 pathology. In addition, Linn has received grants from Björklunds foundation and Demensfonden for her projects on cognitive and behavioural impairment in ALS.

Hi there Abigail Dove! You have recently defended your thesis entitled "Cardiometabolic disease and dementia risk: identifying compensatory factors". Could you tell us a little more?

Concurrent with the ageing global population is a growing need of preventative action on age-related diseases. Weili Xu is studying how cardiovascular disease and diabetes influence the risk of developing cognitive failure and dementia. Meet one of the new professors of Karolinska Institutet who will participate in this year's installation ceremony at Aula Medica on 3 October.

Karolinska Institutet has discovered that an already registered antidepressant, duloxetine, may also have positive effects on memory and cognitive functions in the elderly.

Type 2 diabetes and prediabetes are associated with accelerated brain ageing, according to a new study from Karolinska Institutet published in the journal Diabetes Care. The good news is that this may be counteracted by a healthy lifestyle.

Acute kidney injury is associated with an increased risk of developing dementia, according to a new study published in the journal Neurology by researchers at Karolinska Institutet and others.

Dementia with Lewy bodies is a type of dementia that is similar to both Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease but studies on long-term treatments are lacking. A new study from Karolinska Institutet, published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association, highlights the potential cognitive benefits of cholinesterase inhibitor treatment.

He receives the grant for the project ‘Preclinical Evaluation of Potential Cholinergic PET Imaging Tracers’ and it is valid for a three-year period.

Older people with type 2 diabetes who are treated with GLP-1 agonists have a decreased risk of developing dementia, according to a new study from Karolinska Institutet published in the journal eClinicalMedicine.

Hi Jasper Holleman, doctoral student at the Division of Clinical Geriatrics. On June 18 you will defend your thesis "Novel biomarkers associated with stress : from normal aging to Alzheimer's disease ". What is the main focus of the thesis?

Hi Johanna Mayer, doctoral student at the Division of Neurogeriatrics. On June 17 you will defend your thesis "The role of autophagy in Aβ and tau metabolism in Alzheimer’s disease ". What is the main focus of the thesis?

While mentally stimulating activities and life experiences can improve cognition in memory clinic patients, stress undermines this beneficial relationship. This is according to a new study from Karolinska Institutet published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association.

Hi Malin Aspö, doctoral student at the Division of Clinical Geriatrics. On May 3 you will defend your thesis "Life changing moments - transitions and critical points in young-onset dementia". What is the main focus of the thesis?

Hi María Latorre Leal, doctoral student at the Division of Neurogeriatrics. On April 26 you will defend your thesis "The role of oxysterols in neurodegeneration : implications for cognitive function, maternal effects, and sex-specific differences". What is the main focus of the thesis?

Karolinska Institutet is one of 24 partners in AD-RIDDLE, a collaborative project that aims to increase healthcare providers' ability to diagnose, prevent and treat Alzheimer's disease. The project, supported by, among others, the EU's Innovative Health Initiative (IHI), started in January 2024 and will run for five years.

Hi Mona-Lisa Malarte, doctoral student at the Division of Clinical Geriatrics. Om January 26 you will defend your thesis ”Tau pathology in Alzheimer's disease and other dementias : translational approach from in vitro autoradiography to in vivo PET imaging”. What is the main focus of the thesis?

Dementia is a brain disease that affects mental capacities such as the individual’s memory, language, or capacity to understand and deal with emotions. Amongst the different types of dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is a relatively frequent dementia. Recently, there has been an interest in understanding better whether sex and gender play a role in DLB. Two recent publications from researchers at Karolinska Institutet addressed this question on sex differences in DLB.

Blood fat-lowering statins could slow the progression of Alzheimer's disease, at least for some patients. This is the result of a new study led by Karolinska Institutet published in Alzheimer Research and Therapy. But the researchers are cautious in their interpretations and see the results as a first step in a research journey that may eventually provide the answer.

Dementia diseases cost Swedish society around SEK 80 billion per year. The EU has now awarded funding to the Prominent project, which aims to improve both diagnostics and treatment for these diseases. Karolinska Institutet is responsible for the project in the role of coordinator.

People who have a higher biological age than their actual chronological age have a significantly increased risk of stroke and dementia, especially vascular dementia. These are the results of a study from Karolinska Institutet published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry.

Hi there Xin Xia! You are about to defend your thesis entitled “Cardiovascular Health, Orthostatic Hypotension, and Cognitive Aging”. Could you tell us a little bit more?

The prize is awarded annually by the Swedish Society of Medicine (SLS) to a person who has made outstanding contributions to Alzheimer's research. This year the Bengt Winblad Prize is awarded to Laura Fratiglioni, Professor of Medical Epidemiology with a focus on dementia diseases at the Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet.

Low concentrations of air pollutants are associated with poorer health, and previous research has found a link between air pollution and dementia risk. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet, among others, have now investigated this connection. The study, published in the journal Neurology, contributes to a better understanding of the biological mechanisms that might explain why air pollution seems to increase the risk of developing dementia.

Hi there Jing Wu! You are about to defend your thesis entitled “Ambient Air Pollution and Transportation Noise: How They Affect Mental Health in Older Adults”. Could you tell us a little bit more about it?

Older people with ischemic heart disease have an increased long-term risk of dementia and accelerated cognitive decline. A recent study published in Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association, suggests that the heart, the brain, and cognitive function are connected in the ageing process and that appropriate prevention and treatment of ischemic heart disease in older people might reduce the burden of dementia.

Hi Jakob Norgren, PhD student at the Division of Clinical Geriatrics. On June 12 you will defend your thesis ”The impact of macronutritional composition and ketosis on cognitive health : from normal aging to Alzheimer’s disease”, what is the main focus of the thesis?

Early diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease requires reliable and cost-effective screening methods. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have now discovered that a type of sugar molecule in blood is associated with the level of tau, a protein that plays a critical role in the development of severe dementia. The study, which is published in Alzheimer's & Dementia, can pave the way for a simple screening procedure able to predict onset ten years in advance.

Alzheimer’s disease is the most prominent cause of dementia affecting millions of people worldwide. As the changes in the brain function starts 10-20 years before the clinical onset of Alzheimer’s disease, there is a strong interest in the identification of early markers that can be predictive of future mental health/cognitive decline. This may be something that some KI researchers are on the lookout for. Their latest study is now published in Nature Reviews Neurology.

Men who played football (soccer) in the Swedish top division until the mid 1900s had a higher risk of dementia than men from the general population, a new study from Karolinska Institutet published in The Lancet Public Health reports.

Being affected by several cardiometabolic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and stroke, is linked to a greatly increased risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. A new twin study by researchers from Karolinska Institutet suggests that the same genes may be behind the risk of both cardiometabolic diseases and dementia. The findings have been published in European Heart Journal.

Alzheimer disease begins decades before any symptoms, such as memory loss, start to show. Consequently, early diagnosis increases the chances of slowing the disease down with drugs. A new study on an inherited form of the disease shows that a protein called GFAP is a possible biomarker for very early stages of the disease. The study, conducted by researchers at Karolinska Institutet and published in the journal Brain, could one day lead to an earlier detection of this serious and common disease.

People with at least two of the diseases type 2 diabetes, heart disease or stroke have double the risk of developing dementia. Prevention of diabetes and cardiovascular disease could therefore be a strategy for reducing dementia risk, a study from Karolinska Institutet published in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia suggests.

Hi Minh Tuan Hoang, PhD student at the Division of Clinical Geriatrics, NVS. On May 25 you will defend your thesis ”Health Inequalities in care for persons with dementia”, what's the main focus of the thesis?

On April 21, H.M Queen Silvia visited Karolinska Institutet to participate in a conference focusing on research on Alzheimer's disease, dementia and aging.

A large database is being built in China aiming to study brain aging and explore effective approaches for prevention of dementia. A study published in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia: Translational Research & Clinical Interventions (TRCI) provides detailed description on the database as well as characteristics and health conditions of the study population. The database is called MIND-China--multimodal interventions to delay dementia and disability in rural China.

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is considered the preclinical stage in progressive cognitive decline leading to the clinical stage of dementia. A study published in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association, reports that over one fourth of rural-dwelling older adults in China are affected by MCI.

The Best Practice Guidance regarding improved use of technology in dementia care was developed a few years ago, including researchers from the CACTUS research group. In December, an updated version of the Best Practice Guidance was published.

Hi Emilia Schwertner, PhD student at the Division of Clinical Geriatrics, NVS. On January 21 you will defend your thesis ”Factors associated with behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia”, what's the main focus of the thesis?

Having an elevated resting heart rate in old age may be an independent risk factor of dementia, according to a study at Karolinska Institutet published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association. Since resting heart rate is easy to measure and can be lowered through exercise or medical treatment, the researchers believe that it may help to identify people with higher dementia risk for early intervention.

It is mainly poorly controlled type 2 diabetes that carries an elevated risk of cognitive impairment and dementia, not the diabetes per se, a longitudinal study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden shows. The study comprises over 2,500 people and is published in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have compared how well different Alzheimer’s biomarkers predict the progression of the disease and its effect on the memory. They found that early accumulation of tau proteins in the brain as measured by PET scanner was more effective at predicting memory impairment than biomarkers in the cerebrospinal fluid or amyloid plaque in the brain. The results are published in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.

Postural hypotension, a drastic drop in blood pressure when standing up, is linked to an increased risk of dementia and accelerated progression from cognitive impairment to dementia, even in the absence of symptoms, for instance when feeling dizzy or faint. In a study published in the journal Hypertension, researchers from Karolinska Institutet show that postural hypotension could anticipate worse cognition in old age.

A large study at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden has found a link between ADHD and dementia across generations. The study, published in Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association, shows that parents and grandparents of individuals with ADHD were at higher risk of dementia than those with children and grandchildren without ADHD.

This year, The Swedish Brain Foundation will distribute SEK 106 million in research grants. Karolinska Institutet is awarded 42% of these and includes seven researchers at the Department of Neurobiology, Health Sciences and Society (NVS) as recipients.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet describe the relationship between infectious agents and dementia in an article recently published in Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience.