News archive

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet and KTH Royal Institute of Technology have developed an improved method for creating insulin-producing cells from human stem cells. The results, published in Stem Cell Reports, demonstrate that these cells effectively regulate blood sugar levels in laboratory tests and can reverse diabetes in mice.

Karolinska Institutet's organisation for research infrastructure, RIKI, is now approaching the end of Phase 1 and the beginning of Phase 2. Next in line for organisational transfer is KI Biobank which is proceeding according to plan.

In Primula, employees’ names are displayed based on the population register held by the Swedish Tax Agency. These details can only be changed through the Swedish Tax Agency. In KI RIMS, you can change your display name yourself.

The demand for specialised, evidence-based menopause care is increasing across Sweden. Registration has now opened for Karolinska Institutet’s new professional education course, which provides midwives with expertise to develop and lead menopause care in their own organisations—in line with the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare’s new national guidelines.

A national survey shows that pedagogical accomodations are perceived as helpful by students, but that the process of accessing such support is often complicated. The findings also highlight the need for greater general academic accessibility, which benefits all students.

We would like to extend our warm congratulations to Kai Bao and colleagues, who have been awarded the IADR/AADOCR William J. Gies Award for the best article published in the Journal of Dental Research in 2025 within the category of biological research.

Mosquito-borne viral diseases such as dengue, Zika and chikungunya are spreading to new regions as the climate becomes warmer. A new study from Karolinska Institutet and Institut Pasteur, published in Nature Communications, shows that a newly developed blood test can distinguish between similar viruses and thereby contribute to better surveillance of how these infections spread.

Rasmus Stenlid has been awarded the Wallenberg–Bienenstock Postdoctoral Fellowship, a grant funded by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation. The aim is to give outstanding researchers who have recently completed their PhDs at a Swedish university the opportunity to conduct postdoctoral research at Stanford University.

In a newly launched mentorship programme, a mentor is paired with a student who is keen to learn about professional life or research. Together, you will discuss working life and career paths.

The course catalogue for the autumn semester of 2026 is now open for applications! Last application day is 5 May.

The IT Office has decided to phase out and discontinue the VPN Light service, which has been available for computers outside the central client service Karyon. The decision is part of KI's efforts to strengthen security within our IT infrastructure. The phase-out will be implemented at a slower pace than announced initially, to allow users time to adapt their working methods to other technical solutions.

The Faculty Board at Karolinska Institutet has decided to launch a new call for Assistant Professor positions in 2026, with the possibility of co‑funding up to 20 posts.

An anterior cruciate ligament injury is a serious knee injury that often affects young, physically active people. On April 30, Dzan Rizvanovic will defend his thesis "Anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction: rationale for graft choice and treatment of associated injuries" in which he has investigated how treatment choice affects outcomes after ACL reconstruction.

The Hagströmer Library and Karolinska Institutet's cultural heritage collections have launched a new website with a brand new online catalogue. Now you can explore Karolinska Institutet's unique cultural heritage for yourself!

To provide timely and effective support, we need to understand more than symptoms and diagnoses. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet are therefore working to make it easier to build a holistic picture of how an autistic person or a person with ADHD functions in everyday life and in their surrounding context. The aim is to enable earlier, more individualized support—both within healthcare and beyond.

On Saturday, March 21st, StratNeuro hosted the annual “En Resa Genom Hjärnan 2026” as part of Brain Awareness Week 2026. It offered a day filled with activities for all ages, from hands-on experiments and interactive demonstrations to engaging talks with leading researchers.

As of 1 July, Patrik Magnusson will take on the position of acting head of department at the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, until a permanent head of department is appointed.

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.

Do you want to stimulate young people's interest in research and innovation? Show how research is done and develop your communication skills? On 25 September, the Science Festival Forskarfredag (European Researchers' Night) and the Researchers' Grand Prix competition will take place at Albanova and Vetenskapens hus in Stockholm.

Hi Johanna Danielsson, PhD student at the Division of Physiotherapy. On April 17 you will defend your thesis ”Targeting low physical fitness in older adults with colorectal cancer : a personalized approach to preoperative exercise”. What is the main focus of your thesis?

The Department of Learning, Informatics, Management and Ethics (LIME) was established to serve as a space where medicine meets other fields of science. Now, the spotlight is on LIME’s interdisciplinary approach and unique expertise in a special issue of Socialmedicinskt Tidskrift (translates to Journal of Social Medicine).

A research team from Finland has presented the initial findings from the sampling carried out in connection with the return of skulls from 82 Finnish individuals by Sweden and the Karolinska Institutet two years ago.

On 18 March 2026, StratNeuro partnered with The Cell to host students from Järva Gymnasium for an engaging afternoon focused on neuroscience. The programme provided a unique opportunity to explore current research and engage with scientists and students, offering insight into academic pathways and life in science. The event was part of Brain Awareness Week (16-22 March 2026).

The composition of gut bacteria appears to be associated with how much latent HIV remains in the blood of people receiving antiretroviral therapy. This is shown in a new study from Karolinska Institutet, published in Gut Pathogens. The findings offer clues as to how the gut microbiome may influence the amount of virus that persists in the body.

Anaemia detected in healthcare is associated with an increased risk of both cancer and higher mortality. This is shown in a new population-based study from Karolinska Institutet, published in BMJ Oncology. The findings may help guide clinical follow-up of patients with anaemia in routine care.

KI Transdisciplinary Research Center for Personalized Dementia Prevention & Care (TraCedem), held its kick-off on 1 April 2026, at Karolinska Institutet. The newly established centre brings together researchers, clinicians, and stakeholders to advance dementia research across the full care pathway.

Most people with thyroid disease benefit from established treatments, but not all. In his thesis, Fredric Hedberg has studied treatments used when standard therapy is insufficient in hyper- and hypothyroidism; iodine solution (Lugol’s solution) and combination therapy with the thyroid hormone T3. The results contribute to increased knowledge about these treatments.

On 16 April, the central login function for KI systems will be updated. You will then need to enter your email address instead of your KI ID when logging in.

Through KI’s participation in the South Africa Sweden University Forum (SASUF+), researchers and doctoral students at KI can take part in the virtual AIMday event.

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.

Are you a student at KI and curious about the opportunities your education can lead to? In this new mentoring programme, you will be matched with a KI alumni who will share their experiences and reflect with you on possible career paths.

The Infrastructure Board at Karolinska Institutet has been appointed a new chair. At the same time, the mandate period for the board's current members has been extended until the end of the year.

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.

Lisa Smeds Alenius and Linda Sturesson Stabel from the ‘Leadership in Healthcare and Academia’ research group at the Department of learning, informatics, management and ethics (LIME) have each been awarded a research grant from SFO-V.

The Department of Oncology‑Pathology at Karolinska Institutet has announced the recipients of the 2026 Blue Sky Grant, an internal funding call aimed at supporting innovative, cross‑disciplinary research led by early‑career researchers.

One of the national services offered by NBIS/SciLifeLab is the Bioinformatics Peer review Support track (a.k.a. WABI), providing competences in large-scale data analysis for genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, Cryo-EM and other technologies. This support has been enabled by funding from the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, and is part of the SciLifeLab & Wallenberg National Program for Data-Driven Life Science.

Professor Brian Hodges, already a familiar face at KI, has in recent years explored the potential influence of AI on medical education and assessment methods for students. In his new role as a visiting professor, he will contribute to a strategic initiative aimed at advancing the field of medical education research at KI.

As part of the IT Office's systematic security work, JAMF Security Cloud and JAMF Protect are now being rolled out to all Mac computers at KI.

Many older adults in Sweden help care for partners, relatives or friends, but those who provide the most intensive support often face challenges that affect their own health. This is shown in new doctoral thesis from Karolinska Institutet.

At KI, we use a lot of energy every day (electricity, heating, cooling and steam). Ahead of holidays and long weekends, when the premises are used less than usual, it is a good opportunity to avoid unnecessary electricity consumption. Here are some simple energy-saving tips for KI’s office premises, from KI’s environmental coordinators.

On Wednesday 25 March, Minister for Older People and Social Security Anna Tenje visited Liljeholmen's University Health Centre to learn about the work of the newly formed Stockholm Centre for return to work. The centre is led by Theo Bodin, associate professor at the Institute of Environmental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet.

A new film presenting Karolinska Institutet has now become a reality. The film showcases both the breadth and excellence of KI’s education and research and can be used in seminars and conferences, as well as in other contexts where staff and students want to give an overall presentation of KI.

Many common diseases and other complex traits, such as heart disease, diabetes, and psychiatric disorders, are influenced by a very large number of genetic variants, each with only a small effect. They are also shaped by environmental and lifestyle factors, which makes their causes highly complex. By analyzing genetic data from very large groups of people across the whole genome, researchers can identify these small genetic signals and better understand how they contribute to health and disease.

Feifei Yan from the Integrative Cardiovascular, Cancer and Ageing Research unit (ICCA), at the Department of Medicine, Huddinge (MedH), defends her thesis titled "Matrix rigidity control of breast cancer cell malignancy", on 10 April 2026. Main supervisor is Staffan Strömblad.

People with long COVID are at increased risk of developing cardiovascular disease, according to a new study from Karolinska Institutet published in eClinicalMedicine. The results show that the risk of conditions such as cardiac arrhythmias and coronary artery disease is higher even among those who were not hospitalised during the acute infection.

A major international collaboration on scientific reliability has been completed and is now presented in three articles in Nature by researchers from institutions including Karolinska Institutet. Around half of previously published research results in the social and behavioural sciences could not be replicated in new experiments.

An increasing proportion of patients with heart failure receive a combination of four medications shown to improve prognosis and recommended in guidelines. However, there is still room for improving adherence and persistence to heart failure therapy, which appears linked to a lower risk of hospitalisation for heart failure and cardiovascular death. These findings are shown by a new study from Karolinska Institutet published in the European Heart Journal.

The Swedish Parliament’s Committee on Education presented its new report on schooling and academic outcomes for students with ADHD and autism during an open session on 31 March. Sven Bölte, professor of child and adolescent psychiatric science at Karolinska Institutet, was invited to comment on the findings.

Are you a supportive and approachable person who enjoys helping others? Do you like building connections within your community? KI Housing is looking for new Residence Assistants (RAs) to KI Residence Solna as some of our current RAs will soon be moving out.

From 1 April 2026, lab gloves and disinfectant will be purchased and supplied by ANA Futura.