News archive

Donations by Björn Savén and his wife Inger Savén to Karolinska Institutet’s research on colorectal cancer will hopefully improve our understanding of the disease and the possibility of early detection. One of the aims of the research is to enhance the disease prognosis by increasing the number of people tested at an early stage.

Businessman and life-science investor Mats Arnhög and his family have pledged SEK 50 million to the research being done at Karolinska Institutet into epilepsy, glioblastoma and Parkinson’s disease. The aim of the donation is to strengthen the early and long-term research that future medical breakthroughs require, an area in which Arnhög often sees a serious mismatch between resources and needs.

A major donation now enables researchers at Karolinska Institutet and Uppsala University to follow children’s development from infancy to ten years of age. The long-term project called Early Autism/ADHD Sweden (EASE) combines several advanced research methods and has already contributed new knowledge about early signs of autism and ADHD. The extension now makes it possible to examine how children’s development changes over time.

Researcher and concert pianist Fredrik Ullén is launching a research project exploring how the interplay between heredity and environment influences musical performance. The project is a collaboration between Karolinska Institutet and the Max Planck Institute and is made possible by a generous donation from the philanthropist Marcus Storch.

Entrepreneur and inventor Leif Lundblad (1938–2025) has bequeathed SEK 538 million to Karolinska Institutet, the largest donation ever to have been made to a Swedish university in modern times. Much of the sum will go towards research on dementia diseases.

A private donation from Sally Cahill, USA, to researchers at Karolinska Institutet could make a new treatment for severe rheumatoid arthritis a reality. The method, which involves stimulating a nerve in the ear with a weak electric signal, has so far delivered promising results.

The Promobilia Foundation is donating SEK 25 million to enable four research groups from Karolinska Institutet and Lund University to join forces in a major research project designed to develop new treatment strategies for the fundamental causes of Parkinson’s disease. The quartet will be using innovative methods, including advanced gene therapies and target-specific vectors, which are able not only to reach but also to protect the most vulnerable cells in Parkinson’s disease.

Businessman Fredrik Lundberg is donating SEK 30 million to Karolinska Institutet and a research project looking into how the immune system can combat colorectal cancer and prevent it spreading.

Thanks to a generous donation from businesswoman and investment company director Louise Lindh, the Department of Dental Medicine at Karolinska Institutet is able to establish a new professorial chair. This marks an important step towards making dental health a self-evident and integral part of public health, a move that both researchers and healthcare professionals have long been calling for.

The Committee for Research at Karolinska Institutet has, after a careful inventory, decided to award Eric Thelin's research group, active at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, SEK 730,000 from a donation bequeathed by Erik Gut.

Fellow-KI researchers Anders Kvanta and Fredrik Lanner have been awarded a grant of SEK 10 million from the Promobilia foundation to develop a treatment for inherited retinal diseases, such as retinitis pigmentosa (RP), and age-related macular degeneration (AMD). There is currently no effective therapies for these diseases, which are the main cause of blindness in the developed world.

Business magnate and honorary doctor at Karolinska Institutet Fredrik Lundberg is donating SEK 25 million for a continued investment in cardiovascular research. This is the fifth large donation made since 2007 by Lundberg, whose engagement has enabled research that has greatly improved therapeutic and surgical methods for cardiovascular diseases.

A new donation professorship in prevention is being established at Karolinska Institutet. It will be named Prince Daniel's Professorship in Cardiovascular Prevention and will be awarded to researcher and obstetrician Ylva Trolle Lagerros, who took up the position on 1 October. The aim is to reduce the incidence of cardiovascular diseases in Sweden.

On May 23rd the KI Alumni Office hosted this year's alumni day, offering a focused program at The Cell, located in the newly opened building Forskaren in Stockholm, with a concluding evening mingle at the Nobel Prize Museum.

The Ulla and Ingemar Dahlberg Foundation has decided to donate SEK 50 million to Karolinska Institutet. The grant will be used for a new professorship in vision science with a focus on ocular neurobiology and have the full name "Ulla och Ingemar Dahlbergs professur i synvetenskap med inriktning mot okulär neurobiologi" (Ulla and Ingemar Dahlberg's Professorship in Visual Science with specialization in Ocular Neurobiology).

A new laboratory for MRI examinations was recently inaugurated at Karolinska University Hospital in Huddinge. The purchase of a new MRI scanner, following a donation from the Erling Persson Foundation, creates completely new opportunities for the Stockholm Region and Karolinska Institutet for both doctors and researchers.

Bernard and Barbro Osher donate USD 2,100,000 (approx. SEK 23 million) to the Osher Center for Integrative Health at Karolinska Institutet. The donation follows an earlier donation in 2005 from the same donors.

Since 2015, Karolinska Institutet has been a member of Scholars at Risk, a network that offers protection for researchers whose lives are in serious danger. Thanks to a request granted by KI and a donation by the Olle Engkvist Foundation, a researcher from Afghanistan has been given a position at KI.

An American donor has given USD 3 million to Karolinska Institutet and researcher Erik Berglund, who works at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery and the Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology. The free donation will go towards Dr. Berglund’s specialist fields in transplantation, autoimmunity, and cancer.

Thanks to donations from numerous actors, Karolinska Institutet is now able to create a new professorship in prevention medicine. The professorship is named after its patron, HRH Prince Daniel.

The Thoracic Surgery research group at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery at Karolinska Institutet receives a 15 million SEK donation from the Schörling Foundation. The purpose of the donation is to enforce the development of cardiothoracic surgical technology and methodology and the related research by the group.

The Medical Association has received a donation of SEK 15 million from The Hans and Barbara Bergstrom Foundation to refurbish the old student union building. The project has been ongoing for years with the aim of creating an inspiring environment for KI's students, doctoral students, researchers and alumni.

Helena Salminen, docent at the Division of Family Medicine and Primary Care, has received a private donation of 2.75 million SEK for a research project. The donation was finalized just before Christmas, 2020.