News archive

On 12 April, the internal investigation into the freezer failure during the Christmas holidays in 2023 was presented in the Neo building at Karolinska Institutet. The investigation has been led by KI's head of security and it points to clear technical as well as organisational shortcomings. Taken together, a chain of these shortcomings caused the breakdown that led to the destruction of research material and the loss of years of research work. The inquiry recommends a number of measures.

Anna Beskow, head of Uppsala Biobank at Uppsala University, will be chairing the external group that will be reviewing the investigative team’s report and conclusions concerning the freezer failure at Neo. The external review group, which comprises four independent experts, will present its report to KI president Annika Östman Wernerson.

CLINTEC and Heart lab. will move lab/staff/PI:s to floor 7 in the end of week 8/beginning of week 9.

The administration of BioNut has moved to temporary locations on floor 8. The KI president and the Neo manager will also move to temporary places on floor 8 in the end of February. In April, when floor 8 has been rebuilt and MedH administrative staff has moved in, a final move will take place.

The Single Cell Core Facility of Flemingsberg Campus (SICOF) moves to level 6 in Neo, the lab next to BEA. The move of SICOF closer to BEA will benefit both core facilities, as they collaborate on different projects and share equipment.

During Q1 2024, MedH's and BioNut's administration, the KI president and the Neo manager will move their offices to floor 8, to the long side of the building facing KTH. Some remodelling of the premises will be necessary.

During the Christmas holidays, a freezer failure occurred in the Neo building on KI's Flemingsberg campus. The automatic filling of the cryotanks with liquid nitrogen was interrupted for an unknown reason. As a result, the temperature in 16 of 19 cryogenic tanks rose and large amounts of biological research material have been destroyed. An investigation with internal and external experts is now underway to find out how this failure could have happened.

At the beginning of December, Rasa Sundelius started as Financial controller at the Department of Medicine, Huddinge (MedH).

During January, NVS will move their BSL2 lab and BSL2/Isotope lab from floor 8 to floor 7 in Neo. They will also move their lab-offices down to floor 7.

At the end of November, Jenny Broman started as Financial controller at the Department of Medicine, Huddinge (MedH).

Giovanna Perinetti Casoni from the hematology unit, at the Department of Medicine, Huddinge (MedH), is defending her thesis "Regulation of cytotoxic lymphocyte effector functions" on 1 December 2023. Main supervisor is Yenan Bryceson (MedH).

Katharina Susek from the Hematology unit, at the Department of Medicine, Huddinge (MedH), is defending her thesis "Strategies to optimize natural killer cell functions in the tumor microenvironment" on 24 November 2023. Evren Alici is the main supervisor (MedH).

We congratulate the ten researchers at MedH who have been awarded grants from the Swedish Cancer Society (Cancerfonden) for the period 2024-2026. Together, the MedH researchers are awarded grants of just over SEK 33 million.

In the Swedish Research Council's latest call, SEK 69 000 000 was awarded to 12 researchers at the Department of Medicine, Huddinge (MedH) for the years 2023-2028.

A researcher at the Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet, has received SEK 4.97 million in research grants from FORTE for a project on “A mHealth intervention to promote healthy lifestyle behaviours from the start of life: The Health4Life trial”.

Maria Creignou from the Hematology Unit (HERM) at the Department of Medicine, Huddinge (MedH) is defending her thesis: "Improving prognostication for patients with myelodysplastic syndromes" on 27 October 2023. Main supervisor is Professor Eva Hellström Lindberg (MedH).

The BioNut administration is the first to move, as a part of the relocation project going on in Neo, Flemingsberg. By the end of October, the administration can instead be found on floor 6 in Neo, in ITA's former premises.

A study by researchers from Karolinska Institutet and physicians from Karolinska Hospital shows that a capsule of connective tissue around liver metastases from colorectal cancer improves patient survival and represents a healing response by the liver, not a phenomenon caused by the tumor itself.

Maria Karvouni from the Center for Hematology and Regenerative Medicine (HERM) at the Department of Medicine, Huddinge (MedH) is defending her thesis: "Cellular and personalized therapies in Multiple Myeloma with special emphasis on retargeted NK cells" 16 June 2023. Main supervisor is Evren Alici (MedH).

A new study demonstrates that the dietary fatty acid gamma-linolenic acid (GLA) derived from the mother's milk triggers a metabolic shift essential for heart cell maturation in newborn mice. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet contributed to the study published in Nature in May 2023.

While the relevance for human heart development still needs to be addressed, GLA is found in human breast milk and the GLA-activated nuclear receptors are highly conserved between mice and humans.

The first-ever career program at the Department of Medicine, Huddinge (MedH) is now launching! The program aims to help junior researchers/postocs to advance their career within research and academia. Applications are open between 17 May and 8 June 2023.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.