News archive

Immunotherapy has been shown to greatly improve survival rates for certain types of cancer. However, in some cases, it can lead to an over-activation of the immune system, which can be dangerous. In a recent review by researchers at Karolinska Institutet, potential therapies have been identified, which might make it possible to continue with immunotherapy even when facing severe side effects.

The Environmental and sustainability representative at the Department of Medicine, Huddinge (MedH), Sara, shares some insights from the current work to make MedH a more sustainable department and workplace. One action currently underway is free period products at the department.

Aristeidis Grigoriadis, from the Gastroenterology and Rheumatology Unit at the Department of Medicine, Huddinge (MedH) will defend his thesis "Magnetic resonance imaging as a tool for diagnosis, evaluation and prognosis in patients with primary sclerosing cholangitis" on February 17, 2023. Main Supervisor is Annika Bergquist (MedH).

Welcome Erik Pettersson, new Educational administrator at the Department of Medicne, Huddinge (MedH). Erik started on January 9th 2023 and is filling in for Josefine Berg who is on parental leave. Erik will mainly work with administration for the new medical program (läkarprogrammet).

On December 16, 2022, the KI president inaugurated the Centre for Nutrition at Karolinska Institutet. More than 150 people attended the event with representatives from the funding agencies present; the Swedish Cancer Society, the Swedish Heart Lung Foundation and Formas.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska University Hospital and Cellevate AB, have received almost 5 million SEK from Vinnova, to investigate how stem cells interact with their environment. The goal is to develop more effective production of stem cell therapies, and eventually contribute to better treatment of public diseases such as heart failure and diabetes.

Welcome to Monica Häggström, who is new Financial controller at the Department of Medicine, Huddinge (MedH). Monica started her employment on December 6th and is part of the Economy team at the Central Administration at C2:94.

Nine researchers from the Department of Medicine, Huddinge (MedH) are awarded a total of SEK 29 100 000 from The Swedish cancer society - Cancerfonden. Congratulations to:

Researchers from Karolinska Institutet have reported new insights on how copper ions inhibit the aggregation of the amyloid-β peptide implicated in Alzheimer’s disease. The study published in JACS Au presents molecular structures of this complex, which provide a general understanding of the impact metal ions have.

In the Swedish Research Council's latest call, SEK 91 558 000 was awarded to 15 researchers at the Department of Medicine, Huddinge (MedH) for the years 2022–2027. Congratulations to:

65 researchers at Karolinska Institutet received KID-funding in the call 2022, and four of these are active researchers at the Department of Medicine, Huddinge (MedH).

65 researchers at Karolinska Institutet received KID-funding in the call 2022 and five of these are active researchers at the Department of Biosciences and Nutrition.

Karolinska Institutet hosted the annual meeting with the Swedish national Network in Epidemiology and Nutrition (NEON). The theme for this year’s meeting was: ”Digital lifestyle interventions and BigData in nutritional research”. Around a hundred researchers and practitioners in nutrition and epidemiology from all over Sweden met in Flemingsberg.

Marie Löf, at the Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, is a new Professor in Nutrition as of February 1st, 2022. Yesterday, October 13th, 2022, the inauguration of new professors at Karolinska Institutet took place with an installation ceremony in Aula Medica.

The Nobel Minisymposium “From models towards regenerative therapies” was held at Nobel Forum on October 12, where eight prominent international scientists within the field of stem cells and regenerative medicine presented their recent work.

Professor Martin Bergö is re-appointed Academic Vice President for Research as well as Chairperson of the Committee for Research at Karolinska Institutet. On October 4th the president of Karolinska Institutet, Ole Petter Ottersen, appointed the academic vice presidents and deputy chairpersons for the three committees that report to the Faculty Board.

The two-day conference, Collaboration in Science 2022, is held on 6 and 7 October at KI’s Campus Flemingsberg. During the conference, participants will learn about the extensive research being conducted at Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital.

From byte to bench to bed side – addressing large and complex data sets in biomedicine
KI Network Medicine Alliance offers an advanced course in Network Medicine 19th-20th of October 2022

A researcher from the Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet, has received a career supporting grant from the Alzheimer's Association.

On September 27 a minisymposium will be arranged in association with the 2022 Nicholson lecture with focus on COVID-19 and the immune response against SARS-CoV-2

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

Centre for Bioinformatics and Biostatistics arranges a networking event for researchers within bioinformatics and biostatistics Friday October 7th from 12 pm to 6 pm. The event takes place right after the conference Collaboration in Science 2022 and will be held in Neo building at Campus Flemingsberg. Register before September 9th!

Congratulations to Mattias Carlsten at The Center for Hematology and Regenerative Medicine (HERM) who has been appointed docent in hematology at the Department of Medicine, Huddinge, Karolinska Institutet.

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.

Congratulations!
Five researchers active at the Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet, have received grants from the Swedish Research Council.

Seventy researchers at Karolinska Institutet received KID-funding in the 2021 call and eight of them are active researchers at the Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, something that the Head of the Department sees as a much appreciated verification of the high quality of both the established and the new researchers at the department.

Circular RNAs’ role in cancer initiation and progression has gain a lot of interest recently, but there is no clear picture regarding their functional importance. New findings by researchers at Karolinska Institutet suggest that despite the relative abundance and differential expression, a substantial number of circular RNAs may represent “passenger molecules” with little impact on a cell, reflecting a stochasticity of the gene expression and splicing processes.

A scientist at Karolinska Institutet reports that machine learning can be used to gain insights into molecular events that change the shape of proteins after they are made, regulating their ability to interact with each other. This suggests that artificial intelligence (AI) may allow us, in the future, to accurately simulate highly complex biological scenarios in silico as well as leverage this information for therapeutic intervention.

BioNut researcher has received SEK 4.6 million in research grant from FORTE for a project on “Effects of increased ultra-processed food advertisement (outdoors and digital) exposure on behaviours associated with obesity development in Swedish adolescents, evaluated in a socioeconomic context.”

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

In this consensus article, Federico Pietrocola, at the Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, KI, and colleagues explore the pathophysiological relevance of autophagy in human illnesses, while highlighting the therapeutic potential of autophagy-centred strategies in the clinic. This article represents a remarkable collective effort by the international autophagy community, serving a guide for basic and clinical scientists to get more insights on this fascinating process.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have investigated the use of low dose venetoclax, an experimental drug, for the treatment of the heterogeneous cancer disease multiple myeloma in patients who had relapsed on standard therapies. The findings are published in the American Journal of Hematology and provide new hope for the treatment of multiple myeloma.

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.

New weapon in the fight against Covid-19, while waiting for the vaccine. Listen to what Professor Qiang Pan-Hammarström at the Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet, says in an interview in the newspaper Expressen.

Santhilal Subhash at the Department of Biosciences and Nutrition has received a three-year grant for post-doctoral studies in medical science from the Swedish Society for Medical Research.

The standard treatment for advanced metastatic prostate cancer (PCa) is androgen deprivation therapy (ADT). And even if this is efficient in the short term, 1/3 of PCa will become resistant to ADT and develop castration-resistant prostate cancer. A new study, by Karolinska Institutet and others, shows that estrogen receptor β (ERβ) agonists together with ADT could be considered useful in the treatment.

Today's research is generating more and more big data, which means that the demand for bioinformatics and biostatistics is growing. Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital are therefore establishing a new centre at Campus Flemingsberg that will offer expertise and networking opportunities for the preclinical and clinical research environment in the area.

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).

How do cis-regulatory genome elements regulate gene expression, what are the critical components involved, and can we therapeutically target them? By investigating how corepressors modulate enhancers and silencers during inflammatory macrophage activation, BioNut researchers have found some unexpected answers to these fundamental questions. The study is published today in Molecular Cell.

We wish to congratulate Axel Abelein at BioNut who has received Formas research project grant for early-career researchers for a project on Development of new protein-based biomaterials for sustainable purification of heavy metals from water.

Professor Janne Johansson has been appointed Head of the Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, starting on September 1st, 2020 until August 31st, 2025.

“MedH is a department with fantastic opportunities for ground-breaking translational research, and heading such a department is a very attractive proposition", says Petter Höglund.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have investigated the long-term effect of hormonal therapy in women with the most common types of hormone-sensitive breast cancer. The results, presented in the journal JAMA Oncology, show that the treatment has a protective effect against distant metastatic cancer for both so-called Luminal A and Luminal B breast cancer subtypes, and a long-term effect for women diagnosed with Luminal A cancer.