News archive

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 Nordic Congress of Gerontology (NKG) is arranged every second year in the Nordic countries and next year Sweden will be hosting the event. The 27th edition will be held at Karolinska Institutet on 12–14 June 2024. It is anticipated that 800 people and scholars from different parts of the world will take part, offering a diverse array of distinctive perspectives on the challenges and opportunities linked to population ageing. Registration will open on 2 October 2023.

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.

Researchers at the Ageing Research Centre have been awarded a number of grants from Demensfonden, Stiftelsen Sigurd och Elsa Goljes minne, Stiftelsen Ragnhild och Einar Lundströms minne, as well as the SfoEpi Consolidator grant, for studies on the health and well-being of older people. In addition, ARC is involved in a project within preventive and health-promoting interventions that has been granted funding from Forte.

Hi there Yuanjing Li, PhD student at the Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Division of Aging Research Center (ARC)! You are about to defend your thesis entitled “Cardiovascular health and brain aging: a population-based MRI study". Could you tell us a little bit more about it?

Forte is allocating SEK 160 million to research on the health and well-being of older people. The funds are divided into three programme grants and 19 project grants and the research will begin in 2023 and continue until 2029. Two researchers at the Aging Research Center (ARC), Karolinska Institutet, have been granted funding for their important research within the ageing research area.

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.

The Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare (Forte) is allocating over SEK 91 million to KI research on elderly wellbeing and future working life. One of the researchers, who is to receive SEK 24 million, is Associate Professor Carin Håkansta at Karolinska Institutet and Karlstad University, who will be examining how the working environment is affected when some managerial tasks are taken over by algorithms.

Hi Nathalie Frisendahl, PhD student at the Division of Physiotherapy. On June 16 you will defend your thesis ”Injurious falls in older adults: early identification of individuals at risk of falls—from observational studies to implementation”, what is the main focus of the thesis?

The Aging Research Center at Karolinska Institutet, in collaboration with the National Competence Centre for Relatives (Nka), is launching a nationwide survey to gain a better understanding of the characteristics of older informal caregivers in Sweden.

On 21 March 2023, researchers from several universities around the country, the Swedish Agency for Health and Care Services Analysis and Region Jönköping, gathered at Karolinska Institutet in Solna for a symposium on person-centred and integrated care for older people. Moreover, keynote speakers from the UK and Australia set the scene on the topics of person-centred and integrated care.

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.

There are clear regional differences in the proportion of older adults receiving potentially inappropriate drug treatment in Sweden. In a study published in Frontiers of Pharmacology, researchers at Karolinska Institutet examine regional differences over time and show that these regional variations have decreased over the past decade.

The Ministry of Health and Social Affairs has decided on new appointments for all 14 members of the Government's Council on Geriatric Research and appointed Mats Thorslund as a new member. This means that NVS has four representatives on the council.

Frailty can be defined as an aging-related syndrome of physiological decline, characterized by marked vulnerability to adverse health outcomes. It is becoming an important public health concern as the aging population increases.

Laura Fratiglioni, Senior professor at Karolinska Institute is awarded the Great Gerontology Prize by the Swedish Gerontological Association for her contribution to Aging Research.

Debora Rizzuto, principal researcher and research group leader at the Aging Research Center (ARC), Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society at Karolinska Institutet, has received a project grant for a project entitled "SoundMIND – effects of noise on cognition and mental health", from Forte.

Ingrid Ekström, postdoctoral researcher at the Aging Research Center (ARC) at the Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet, has received project support for research in the humanities and social sciences from Riksbankens Jubileumsfond.

Hi there, Jie Guo, PhD student at the Division of Aging Research Center (ARC), Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society at Karolinska Institutet! You will defend your thesis entitled "Unraveling the relationship between body mass index and cardiometabolic disease, dementia, and survival in old age" on 10 November 2022. What is the main focus?

Hi there, Mahwish Naseer, PhD student at the Division of Aging Research Center (ARC), Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society at Karolinska Institutet! You will defend your thesis entitled "Why do older adults seek emergency care? The impact of contextual factors, care, health, and social relations" on 14 October 2022. What is the main focus?

Hi there, Marguerita Saadeh, PhD student at the Division of Aging Research Center (ARC), Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society at Karolinska Institutet! You will defend your thesis entitled "Enjoying life and living healthier: impact of behavioral and psychosocial factors on physical function in old age" on 22 September 2022. Tell us, what is the main focus of your thesis?

Three researchers at the Department of Biosciences and Nutriton, Karolinska Institutet, have received grants from the Novo Nordisk Foundation for their research, 2022.

Epigenetic clocks based on DNA methylation data are widely used aging biomarkers useful to assess biological age in population-based cohorts. However, their utility has been limited by technical noise. In this paper, we present a method that produces high-reliability clocks for applications such as longitudinal studies and intervention trials.

Several co-workers from ARC attended the 26th Nordic Congress of Gerontology (26NKG), which took place on 8-10 June in Odense, Denmark. The theme for this year's congress was "Change& Continuity", and ARC contributed with 12 presentations, 7 posters, and with The National E-infrastructure for Aging Research (NEAR) as a sponsor.

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.

In the spring of 2022, the network Senior Faculty at KI conducted a survey on the activities of KI professors born in or before 1953. The results show that the professors are still heavily engaged in research and bring close to SEK 300 million a year into the university.  

In a new study in Nature Communications, researchers at Karolinska Institutet and the Institute for Basic Science in South Korea have shown how short-term expression of gene editing tools can be used to repair the mutation that causes progeria.

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.

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.

Weakening muscles are a natural part of the ageing process, but for some people with a condition called sarcopenia the decline is abnormally fast. A new study from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden suggests that the early stages of sarcopenia could be counteracted with timely interventions designed to preserve physical and cognitive function and manage chronic conditions. The results are published in the Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle.

KI researcher Amaia Calderón-Larrañaga, Assistant Professor at the Aging Research Center (ARC), has been awarded a project grant for research within primary care from the Swedish Research Council.

KI researcher Erika Jonsson Laukka has been granted a project grant from the Swedish Research Council for her research within post-COVID syndrome.

A researcher at the Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet, has received USD 200 000 for a project aiming to assess the effect of partial re-programming by the transient expression of the Yamanaka factors to rejuvenate the immune system to extend lifespan and health span.

Four researchers at the Aging Research Center (ARC) have been granted project grants from the Swedish Research Council. Marc Guitart-Masip, Davide Liborio Vetrano and Weili Xu are awarded funding for projects in the field of Medicine and Health category, and Grégoria Kalpouzos for a project in the field of humanities and social sciences.

Researchers at the Aging Research Center (ARC) have been awarded several substantial grants from Forte's annual open call for proposals. Out of the 32 projects, programmes and networks that received funding at KI, five were awarded to ARC. The aim is to analyse enabling and contributing to an in-depth knowledge in research areas or issues.

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.

Davide Vetrano has received a 2 MSEK Junior Scholar Grant from the Strategic Research Area in Epidemiology and Biostatistics (SFOepi) for the project “Biomarker signatures of the multimorbidity-frailty continuum: in pursuit of personalized medicine for older adults.”

We are happy to announce that the National E-infrastructure for Aging Research (NEAR) received the renewal of the research infrastructure grant by the Swedish Research Council (VR) for the period 2023-2028.

Hi there Stefan Fors, researcher at the Aging Research Center (ARC) at Karolinska Institutet. Along with two other researchers from KI, you have shown that there are inequalities in life expectancy among older people in Sweden and that these differences have increased during the period 2006–2015. Could you tell us a little more?

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.

The Swedish Panel Study of Living Conditions of the Oldest Old – SWEOLD – was conducted for the first time in 1992. The aim was, and still is, to investigate what the living conditions of the population over 75 years of age look like in today's Sweden and what changes have taken place in recent years. The researchers behind the study can now describe developments over the past 30 years, a period during which there have been clear changes in welfare.

The Stockholm Writers Group (SWG) published an anthology entitled "Raft of Leaves: On Aging, Death and Foreignness" on 29 May 2021, in remembrance of Marti Parker (1951–2017), researcher, teacher, novelist, poet, and one of the founders of SWG.

Hi there Harpa Sif Eyjólfsdóttir, PhD student at the Aging Research Center (ARC). You will be defending your thesis entitled “Unequal tracks? Studies on work, retirement and health” on 24 May 2021. Could you tell us a little more about it?

Francesca Castoldi, at the Department of Biosciences and Nutrition (BioNut), KI, has been awarded a research grant of 300 000 SEK from the Alex and Eva Wallström Foundation for scientific research and education.

As the pandemic lingers on, more and more emphasis is being placed on the indirect, negative effects (i.e. collateral damage) of the pandemic and related restrictions. Sweden took a relatively lenient approach towards mitigating the pandemic during the spring of 2020, relying on voluntary adherence to recommendations and encouraging elderly to stay at home, avoid social gatherings and public transportation, and to remain physically active outdoors in a safe manner.

Hi there Ying Shang, PhD student at the Aging Research Center (ARC). You will be defending your thesis entitled “How can older adults combat diabetes to achieve a longer and healthier life?” on 16 April 2021. Could you tell us a little more about it?

How have social distancing and quarantine measures affected older individuals during the COVID-19 pandemic? Recent research lead by Professor Miia Kivipelto’s team provides some important insights – there were several negative effects but at the same time many lifestyles and behaviors did not substantially change during the first wave of the pandemic, and some even improved.

Researchers from Karolinska Institutet and Gothenburg University have investigated a potential new drug target for the rare genetic disorder Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome that causes accelerated aging in children. The findings in mice are published in the scientific journal eLife and may aid in the development of more effective treatments for this fatal condition.