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.

Okan Gültekin, a postdoctoral researcher at Karolinska Institutet, has been awarded an international grant from the Cancer Foundation to develop an AI-based tool for the treatment of advanced ovarian cancer. The project brings together expertise from Sweden, Finland and the UK.

An estimated 500,000 to 700,000 people in Sweden live with the lung disease COPD. Research is currently being done on developing an inhalation therapy for such patients by examining how antibodies can protect the body from disease-related inflammation and infections. KI researcher Charlotte Thålin has been awarded the Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation’s (HLF) major research grant of SEK 20 million for the project.

Seven researchers affiliated with Karolinska Institutet have been awarded funding in the Swedish Childhood Cancer Fund’s latest call for research positions, with a total allocation of SEK 57 million. The funded projects include initiatives aimed at improving chemotherapy for children with leukemia, as well as studies seeking to better understand relapse in acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

On 1 June, SweTrial will open the 2026 calls for applications for government grants aimed at strengthening Sweden’s capacity to conduct clinical trials. The calls are aimed at organisations involved in clinical activities that wish to develop collaboration and national initiatives in this field.

KI’s resource allocation model for research funding continues to evolve. The President has issued guidelines to support the work on prioritisation, allocation and monitoring within the campus groups. The first announcements regarding the 2027 allocation are expected shortly.

A new research project at the National Centre for Suicide Research and Prevention (NASP) will investigate measures used to reduce suicides on the railway and metro systems. The project has a total budget of SEK 5 million, will run from 2026 to 2030, and is funded by the Swedish Transport Administration (Trafikverket).

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.

This call for proposals is aimed at initiatives involving cutting-edge technology or methods that are time-critical. A maximum of SEK 16 million has been allocated for innovative, needs-driven investments to strengthen KI’s research infrastructure. The funds are to be used during 2027.

Karolinska Institutet has received a grant of DKK 10 million (approximately SEK 15 million) from the Novo Nordisk Foundation for research on cell therapy for Parkinson’s disease. The project is led by Johan Ericson, professor at the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, and aims to help move laboratory research closer to clinical application.

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.

A new research project at Karolinska Instutet has been awarded a five-year grant from FORMAS, the Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development, to study how long-term exposure to air pollution and transport noise may influence the risk of developing dementia, using large population-based data from Sweden.

Forte has announced long-term funding for two national research centres aimed at strengthening knowledge on care and support for people living with dementia. One of the centres, Tracedem – KI Transdisciplinary Research Center for Personalized Dementia Prevention & Care, has been operating at Karolinska Institutet since January 2026.

Professor Karl-Johan Malmberg is awarded Tobiaspriset 2026 for his research on cell-based immunotherapy for blood cancers. The prize sum of SEK 10 million will be allocated at SEK 2 million per year over a five-year period.

The Swedish Research Council has recommended that the Government fund a new Strategic Research Area (SFO) in climate research, with Karolinska Institutet as one of the participating universities. The initiative, known as the Stockholm Centre for Climate Transition (ClimTrio), aims to develop knowledge on how the transition to a climate-resilient society can be effective, equitable and sustainable in the long term.

Why do some people, though not all, develop several long-term illnesses and functional impairments as they get older? A new research project at Karolinska Institutet aims to find answers by looking at ageing as a connected whole, rather than a set of separate diseases.

Abigail Dove, researcher at Karolinska Institutet, has been awarded the SSMF Postdoctoral Grant 2026 for a project investigating how cardiometabolic conditions such as obesity, high blood sugar and high blood pressure are linked to brain ageing and dementia.

Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation is allocating additional funds, in total SEK 1.6 billion, to patient oriented, clinical research. The initiative will, among other things, strengthen research at the four Wallenberg Centres for Molecular Medicine. As part of this initiative, SEK 125 million has been allocated to Karolinska Institutet.

Through the South Africa–Sweden University Forum, SASUF+, researchers at SASUF partner universities can now apply for funding to develop new or strengthen existing research collaborations between Sweden and South Africa.

Through South Africa Sweden University Forum, SASUF+, researchers at SASUF partner universities can now apply for funding to organise a local Academic Industry Meeting Day (AIMday). 

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.

Karolinska Institutet is offering collaboration awards to strengthen its long‑term partnerships with the University of Tokyo and RIKEN.

Joint seed funding is available for research collaborations between the University of Tokyo and Karolinska Institutet, KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Stockholm University.

KI is part of NeurotechEU, a European University Alliance. The NeurotechEU collaboration funding has opened, offering up to €10,000 to support educators who want to develop meaningful, cross‑institutional learning activities with a focus on challenge-based learning.

The Internationalisation Board at KI has allocated limited competitive funds for KI faculty and staff for grant applications to strengthen collaborative interactions within research and education.

Karolinska Institutet awards grants from a large number of foundations and from donations. The foundations & donations award research and travel grants.

Emma R Andersson, senior researcher and associate professor at the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, and Joanna Rorbach, senior researcher at the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics, have been awarded the Göran Gustafsson Prize by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.

New funding from Region Stockholm in collaboration with Karolinska Institutet will support advanced research into cluster headache at the university. By combining genetic studies with sleep and circadian rhythm research, the project seeks to improve care for a patient group with a high disease burden and risk of misdiagnosis.

Eight young researchers at Karolinska Institutet have been awarded postdoctoral grants within the EU's Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA). This means strengthened opportunities to conduct research that can contribute to future medical breakthroughs – from the role of mitochondria in disease to the brain's body experience and new strategies for allergy treatment. The competition has been particularly intense in this year's call.

The Strategic Research Area Neuroscience – StratNeuro - announces a call for applications to support postdoctoral researchers at Karolinska Institutet.

Using a combination of strategic recruitment and an internal nomination process, KI hopes to be able to nominate particularly promising young researchers for the Swedish Research Council’s new call. Jesper Lagergren, chairman of KI’s recruitment committee, considers the initiative both right and promising.

Karolinska Institutet (KI) and the University of Toronto (U of T) have announced the second cohort of Mats Sundin Fellows in Human Developmental Health for postdoctoral researchers. The two-year exchange programme offers promising young researchers the opportunity to grow and test their wings in other research environments. Behind the initiative is ice hockey legend Mats Sundin, whose engagement lays the groundwork for the next generation of leading researchers.

Among the 102 recipients at Karolinska Institutet who received research grants in medicine and health from the Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet), five researchers from the Department of Neuroscience were included.

Eligible applicants are researchers with a doctoral degree who are affiliated to Karolinska Institutet, who conduct research within the area described above.

Four innovation projects at KI in the field of life science receive funding from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation and SciLifeLab's Proof-of-Concept program. The grants aim to strengthen the path from academic research to innovation and commercial application in life science.

The 2025 Karolinska Institutet (KI) Ming Wai Lau Centre for Reparative Medicine (MWLC) has been established for Postdoctoral positions in the field of Reparative Medicine, including stem cell regenerative medicine, bioengineering, reprogramming and biomanufacturing toward translation.

The Cancer Research Funds of Radiumhemmet is to donate SEK 102 million kronor to point-of-care cancer research at KI. The grant is the largest in the history of the Funds and will finance diagnosis-specific research, infrastructure and research positions.

The Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet) has awarded 102 grants in medicine and health in five categories to 101 researchers at Karolinska Institutet. In total, KI will be allocated just over SEK 526,6 million for the period 2025-2031.

The Swedish Research Council (Vetenskapsrådet) has decided on four calls and awarded funding to 39 researchers at Karolinska Institutet (KI) in the areas of clinical therapy research, international post docs within medicine and health, research into viruses and pandemics, and career grants within primary care.

The Committee for Research at Karolinska Institutet has decided on recipients from the Jonas Söderquist scholarship foundation for basic research in virology and immunology. The awarded are Annika Niehrs and Thomas R. Müller at the Department of Medicine, Huddinge, and Andrea Fossati at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology.

The Swedish Cancer and Allergy Foundation has allocated SEK 3.3 million to support 19 innovative projects in the fields of cancer and allergy research. Among the recipients are three researchers from the Department of Laboratory Medicine, who will receive grants to advance studies focused on some of the most challenging and hard-to-treat cancer types.

The Epilepsy Foundation (Stiftelsen Epilepsifonden) is awarding a grant of SEK 400,000 to the research project “MAP-KETO,” which is investigating the effects of a ketogenic diet on children with drug-resistant epilepsy.

At the same time as more and more young people are affected by mental illness, the need for research in psychology and psychiatry aimed at children, young people and young adults is becoming ever greater. Marianne and Marcus Wallenberg Foundation and Marcus and Amalia Wallenberg Foundation have now decided to award grants to ten research projects in the area. Seven of these are run by researchers at KI.

The government has initiated an investment in new excellence clusters totalling SEK 2.5 billion. With five planning grants awarded by the Swedish Research Council and Vinnova, Karolinska Institutet (KI) is one of the institutions taking the next step towards strengthening Sweden’s position in medical research and innovation.

Professor Sten Linnarsson, Karolinska Institutet, has been awarded a distinguished professor grant by the Swedish Research Council totalling just over SEK 30 million for the period 2026–2033.

In October 2025, the Faculty Board decided to allocate funding to NVS in a university-wide initiative to promote collaboration between environments with either a strong research profile or a strong education profile. Three of the department’s study programmes have been granted funding under this initiative.

Forte's annual call for project grants will contribute to increased knowledge in Forte's areas of health, working life and welfare. Of the 74 approved projects in 2025, 19 are run by researchers at Karolinska Institutet, who will receive just over SEK 86.3 million.

Forte is investing in future research through annual starting grants for young researchers. In this year's decision, Karolinska Institutet is awarded approximately SEK 39 million for 11 projects characterised by high quality and societal benefit. This year's call for proposals is larger than previous years and has a clear focus on career development and international mobility.

Forte has decided on two calls and awarded grants to eight researchers at KI. In the call for Research on person-centred and integrated care 2025, five KI researchers will receive a total of approximately SEK 33.5 million for studies linked to the transition in primary care. In the call for Research centre grants 2025, three KI initiatives are granted SEK 158 million for long-term research in dementia, psychiatry and return to work.

The Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF) is investing SEK 120 million in the development of instruments, technology and methods that will enable scientific breakthroughs. Four researchers at Karolinska Institutet have received a total of almost SEK 35 million for projects that improve diagnostics, develop new therapies and provide researchers with advanced analytical tools.