News archive

In March 2020, thousands of researchers across the globe joined forces to answer the question of why some COVID-19 patients develop a severe, life-threatening disease, while others manage with mild or no symptoms. A comprehensive summary of their findings to date, based on the analyses of nearly 50,000 patients and published in Nature today, reveals 13 genetic regions that are strongly associated with infection or severe COVID-19.

New review article looks at readiness prior to the implementation of genomics-based precision medicine in complex diseases. The extensive work has been led by researchers at Karolinska Institutet and Lund University and has been carried out together with some 30 researchers throughout Sweden. The results are now being published in the Journal of Internal Medicine, JIM.

A Swedish COVID-19 data portal has now been in operation for a year and forms part of a European network aimed at promoting data sharing and access to data-related resources. The data portal has contributed to increased support for a large number of research projects and publications.

What lessons have we learned during the COVID-19 pandemic and what are the primary hurdles that must be removed to attain equitable and sustainable health? These were the focal points of the Stockholm Life Science Conference 2021 that took place on the 25th of May. Three areas that were identified as important conditions for future innovations were collaboration, communication and accessibility to data.

A major effort to strengthen KI's strategic collaboration capacity has recently been achieved. This is a Vinnova-funded initiative that has been ongoing over the past three years. The lessons now learned and the results from the projects will form a natural part of KI's research and education.

This weekend marks five years since KI alumnus, researcher, and Swedish citizen, Ahmadreza Djalali was arrested and imprisoned in connection with a lecture tour in Iran. After a trial that can only be considered a legal scandal, with fabricated accusations and with no real chance of defending himself, Djalali was sentenced to death.

Karolinska Institutet has signed an agreement with Wellcome Leap that enabled KI to join the Leap Health Breakthrough Network. This global network comprises many leading academic and research institutions across six continents, that are committed to solving the world’s most serious global health challenges.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet are investigating the efficacy and safety of COVID-19 vaccines in a new study on patients with compromised immune systems, who can become seriously ill if they are affected by COVID-19. On February 23, the first patient in the study was vaccinated with an mRNA vaccine at Karolinska University Hospital. So far, the project has received two grants from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation of SEK 10 million in total.

Karolinska University Hospital, Karolinska Institutet and Region Stockholm have been working together for just under a year to increase the pace of introduction of precision medicine, which briefly means diagnostics, treatment and follow-up at the right time and adapted to the patient's individual circumstances. In this collaboration, the establishment of a virtual precision medicine centre has been a priority.

The European Commission has launched a contingency plan to meet the challenge of the various mutations of the coronavirus. KI and Karolinska University Hospital are contributing to a new network for the evaluation and testing of new vaccines.

The success of the mRNA-based vaccines is a boost for the entire mRNA field and can lead to new treatments for completely different diseases. This is the view of Kenneth Chien, professor at Karolinska Institutet and co-founder of Moderna, one of the companies that has now developed a vaccine against COVID-19.

KI and Makerere University have signed an agreement to establish the Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Health (CESH), a centre to promote partnerships and develop capacity, resources and tools for researchers and policy makers globally. The agreement is the next step in the deepening of the collaboration between the institutions.

Karolinska Institutet has together with its partners in Sub-Saharan Africa kick-started implementation of a new online training programme about sustainable health for professionals in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Somalia and Uganda. The aim of the programme is to, based on the Agenda 2030, develop capacity to use innovative approaches to strengthen the health sector in the participants’ countries.

A year has passed now since Karolinska Institutet, the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) and Stockholm University formed the university alliance Stockholm trio. Together, the three academic institutions seek to develop and promote the international research and education environment of the Stockholm region, and will establish a joint office in Brussels. Veteran of the EU scene, Dan Andrée is now laying the foundations of the office.

Meet Agneta Richter Dahlfors, director of a new interdisciplinary research centre with the focus on societal benefits, that was inaugurated on 30 September. What is AIMES?

The Center for the Advancement of Integrated Medical and Engineering Sciences, AIMES, is a collaboration between KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Karolinska Institutet, in partnership with Getinge, with the vision to enhance the exchange of expertise within academia and industry. The center was officially inaugurated on 30 September 2020, in Biomedicum, Solna (and via Youtube).

Karolinska Institutet is proposing, in partnership with Karolinska University Hospital, a national preventative drive aimed at people at risk of committing acts of sexual violence. One initiative is to set up a national knowledge hub.

Karolinska Institutet's information management strategy was developed in Spring 2019 and is part of Strategy 2030. The aim is to create concrete, common and established ways forward for the management of information and data at Karolinska Institutet.

Karolinska Institutet and St. Erik Eye Hospital have entered into a collaboration with Novo Nordisk A/S to develop a new treatment for age-related macular degeneration. Novo Nordisk A/S will provide support and SEK 48 million in funding to enable a phase 1 clinical trial where new retinal cells generated from embryonic stem cells will be transplanted into patients. The aim is to develop a completely new cell therapy for this common but currently incurable eye disease.

Just over 12 months ago, the Stockholm Trio University Alliance was launched. The University Alliance between the Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm University and KTH has been extended and further developed within several areas over the course of the year. Joint representation in Brussels is a vision that is set to be realised this autumn.

Karolinska Institutet has been awarded funding from the Swedish Insitute for two training programmes amounting to a total of four million SEK within the framework of the Swedish Institute’s Public Sector Innovation Programme. The programmes will run 2020-2021.

Congratulations to Andrea Carmine Belin and Caroline Ran, researchers at the Department of Neuroscience, who have received The Swedish Brain Foundation's Research Grant in 2020, for their project on cluster headache, a neurovascular disease leading to extreme pain and for which there is currently no cure.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet are part of a consortium granted almost 66 million euros (690 million Swedish kronor) by the european Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) and other parties. The funds will be used to develop, test and facilitate access to chemical substances and other research tools that could pave the way for new drug targets and treatments of diseases within areas such as inflammation and cancer.

KI researcher Tobias Alfvén has been elected new chairman of the Swedish Society of Medicine and will take office on 1 July, 2020.

A new EU funded research project entitled “nexT gEneRation sMart INterconnectEd ioT (TERMINET)” has been initiated by researchers at KI and the Health Informatics Centre (HIC) at LIME. Karolinska Institutet is participating as healthcare research partner, within a consortium of 27 partners all around Europe.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet are coordinating a recently initiated multi-national clinical trial that will evaluate the effect of hyperbaric oxygen treatment (HBO) in severe cases of COVID-19. A total of 200 adults admitted to hospital with moderately severe COVID-19 pneumonia will be recruited. The trial could start as early as next week at a hospital in Region Blekinge, Sweden.

KI Holding and its subsidiary KI Innovations have now combed forces by creating a common board, to which they have added three new members and a new chairperson.

EU-financed Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) has boosted funding for research on diagnostics, medicines and vaccines against the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Ali Mirazimi, researcher at Karolinska Institutet and Sweden’s National Veterinary Institute (SVA), coordinates one of eight projects provisionally selected among 144 applicants.

In a study recently published in Nature Methods, researchers from Karolinska Institutet and Oxford University have developed a method to identify molecules that are attached to proteins in the membrane.

In a new study, researchers from the University of Copenhagen and Karolinska Institutet have found neurons in the brain that control how mice turn left and right. The studdy was recently published in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

The British Ambassador to Sweden, Judith Gough, visited KI on Walpurgis Eve to discuss the COVID-19 research being led by Lars Engstrand at KI and SciLifeLab in collaboration with KTH and with primary funding from Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation.

On 8 April, Matilda Ernkrans, Minister for Higher Education and Research, visited KI and SciLifeLab, which are coordinating a major COVID-19 diagnosis and research initiative. Under the direction of KI’s president, the Minister observed, amongst other things, how a laboratory at KI is built up to increase its analysis capacity for the testing of hospital staff and patients.

Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital are the first institutions in Sweden to be accredited as a Comprehensive Cancer Centre by the Organisation of European Cancer Institutes (OECI).

A new method of evaluating and prioritizing treatment for patients with suspected acute stroke, which has been used by the Stockholm health authority since 2017, has led to faster health interventions and better patient care, shows a new study from Karolinska Institutet published in the journal JAMA Neurology.

The National Board of Health and Welfare annually distributes grants for research aimed at mental illness prevention and treatment of habits of living. This year, the research project “Tobaksavvänjning på recept” (Tobacco Cessation on Prescription) receives 2,3 MSEK.

Karolinska Institutet has now received the test material that will allow scientists to perform 5,000 analyses a day on patient samples. The lab will be ready next week thanks to the swift cooperation of KI researchers and Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation.

President of Stockholm City Council, Cecilia Brinck and the President of Karolinska Institutet Ole Petter Ottersen sign today, 23 March, a declaration of intent on a collaboration.

An extensive workshop has been held to further the vision of creating a Centre of Excellence for Sustainable Health. Karolinska Institutet is driving the development together with Makerere University in Uganda, with focus on non-communicable diseases and other high burden diseases.

On Monday, February 10, the government presented four collaborative groups that are linked to the government's strategic collaboration program. Karolinska Institutet's president Ole Petter Ottersen is a member of the collaboration group for health and life science.

Two new research programmes focusing on AI and bioelectronic medicine, for application in the areas of breast cancer and inflammatory disease, respectively, have been adopted at MedTechLabs. An interdisciplinary centre run by KTH, Karolinska Institutet and the Stockholm Region.

Two researchers at Karolinska Institutet are awarded the Strategic Mobility Grant from the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF). The aim of the SSF mobility programme is to increase exchange between Swedish universities and industry by funding researchers’ work with a project managed by the other part.

When Nobel prize winner Michael Kremer initially looked at the data of his now famous 1990s Kenya school study, he felt shocked and disappointed. The data showed that more textbooks did nothing to improve educational outcomes, contrary to what most researchers believed. But rather than succumbing to disillusionment, Kremer dug deeper into Kenya’s schooling system to uncover what measures truly did make an impact and found his answer: targeted help for weak students.

The company "Care to translate", founded and developed by KI students, was named Social Entrepreneur of the Year in the Business Challenge 2019.

Altogether SEK 170 million. This is this year's allocation from the European Commission under the funding programme for health in Horizon2020. A total of 20 research projects at Karolinska Institutet are being supported, three of them also coordinated from here: a survey of what we are exposed to in the environment; mapping of the brain's different nerve cells; and a project to bring down the mortality rate in childbirth in four African countries.

Over 100 representatives from the Swedish life science sector participated in the hearing, whose main purpose was to gather thoughts and input for the SciLifeLab’s road map for the next decade.

Hello Claes Frostell, professor and senior physician at the Department of Clinical Sciences at Danderyd Hospital who as of September 1 is KI’s scientific representative for two years.

The partnership between KI and the Mayo Clinic in the US is celebrating its 25th year. Since inception, the collaboration has supported a great many successful research projects and innovations. Sophie Erhardt has recently been appointed as KI’s academic coordinator for the collaborative platform.

An interview with the NVS's delegates at the South Africa-Sweden University Forum Research & Innovation Week.

Professor Miia Kivipelto and her team - the Nordic Brain Network - provided a major contribution to the development and definition of the guidelines, given the expertise and experience in the field of risk and protective factors for dementia and AD.

A research and innovation conference is currently in progress in Stellenbosch, South Africa, bringing together representatives of Swedish and South Africa universities. The main topic of the week-long conference, which opened on 6 May under the STINT-financed South Africa–Sweden University Forum (SASUF) project, is Agenda 2030.