News archive

As part of an initiative with Imperial College London, Karolinska Institutet aims to stimulate doctoral student networking and interaction between KI doctoral students and doctoral students at Imperial College.

We all recognise the scene from countless horror movies and thrillers. A new, unknown virus is spreading. Panic ensues! Suddenly, the streets of New York are filled with people in yellow hazmat suits with big helmets, carrying stretchers where people lie writhing in terrible agony. But what is does it really look like when we prepare for and manage communicable diseases? The Centre for Health Crises’ expert coordinator knows more.

Tips from Grants Office regarding current calls

Kyla McKay, researcher in MS epidemiology and affiliated with the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, has been awarded the Bjarne Ahlström Minnesfonds pris in “Clinical Neurology - especially inflammatory mechanisms affecting central or peripheral nervous system function”.

There are five places left on our doctoral course and you still have the chance to apply!

Vaccination coverage for COVID-19 is high in both people with and without mental illness, according to a large multinational study led by researchers at Karolinska Institutet and published in Nature Communications. However, Swedish registry data revealed that individuals with unmedicated mental illness have lower vaccination levels.

Dedicated research time for clinical professionals is central to high quality clinical research. Region Stockholm annually announces positions at different levels for clinical research. This year, a large part of these very attractive positions went to researchers at the Department of Medicine Solna (MedS).

Some health crises occur suddenly and intensely, for example in the event of an armed attack or an earthquake. Others come more stealthily. One of the clearest and most worrying examples of an insidious health crisis is antibiotic resistance, which will be addressed at a high-level meeting of the United Nations in September.

Addgene is a non-profit organization that serves as a global plasmid repository, facilitating the sharing of molecular biology tools among researchers worldwide. Those scientists whose plasmid has been ordered 100 times or more are congratulated with a “Blue Flame Award”.

Sweet September has arrived, bringing some good news and some wait-and-sees. After the government presented its budget for 2025 on 19 September, it’s still not clear what kind of resources will be available for higher education.

A recent study published in Nature Communications by researchers at Karolinska Institutet offers new insights into the development of ovarian follicles, which are vital for female fertility as they contain oocytes.

Correct and functioning diagnostics are a basic prerequisite for knowing what is happening and what it is we are dealing with, both in everyday life, but not least in a health crisis. Therefore, the need for adaptable and scalable laboratory and diagnostic capabilities is central to rapid and adequate management in many health crises, whether infectious diseases or chemical spills.

Priorities for intensive care in times of crisis are something that has interested the Centre for Health Crisis Expert Coordinator Märit Halmin for some time. She is the guest editor of a special issue of Läkartidningen on the subject, where she writes alongside several other experts in the field.

Healthcare is a societal function that needs to function both in everyday life and in a health crisis. In any health crisis, be it a natural disaster, war in an unstable Europe or a new pandemic, the number of patients in need of care will increase. Among them, a certain proportion will be critically ill in need of intensive care. This will require difficult decisions and prioritisation from their doctors.

Welcome to this year's Christmas party! A traditional Christmas table just for us at the beautiful Högloftet at Skansen. Sign up no later than October 31.

The KI Biobank in Solna turns 20 this year. No fewer than 8.5 million samples from 750,000 individuals are preserved in its freezers. “The biobank is absolutely crucial to meeting tomorrow’s research needs,” says Sanela Kjellqvist, head of the KI Biobank.

To facilitate new and existing contacts between researchers and doctoral students as well as increase research collaboration with the University of Edinburgh, KI’s Internationalisation Board is pleased to announce the availability of limited competitive funds for a lab visit.

Lea Stark is one among five competitors in the Forskar Grand Prix Digital, where she will present a key aspect of her research in just four minutes.

Preparedness Week 2024 has started. The theme for the year is "Get started" and around the country, municipalities, regions, civil society organizations and many more are investing in information and communication campaigns. But what exactly is preparedness?

The KI fun run was a fantastic afternoon filled with community, joy and movement! With over 350 participants, 33 teams and 22 officials, we created a wonderful atmosphere.

Researchers have developed a gel inspired by cow slime for patients suffering from disc herniation.

Protocols from IMM are available via your computer in the folder P:IMM_Information/Protokoll

A well-functioning crisis organisation is important to be able to handle special events/crises and to minimize damage to KI's operations, employees, researchers and students. Updated guidelines for the organisation are now available, including crisis plans.

The Center for Resuscitation science at Karolinska Institutet, in collaboration with Duke University, USA, participated in a research exchange on the use of drones as first responders in cases of cardiac arrest. During a symposium in Gothenburg, researchers and emergency services from both Sweden and the US shared their experiences and discussed future possibilities to improve prehospital rescue systems using drone technology.

Join us on 24 September 2024, at the World Trade Centre in Stockholm for the Doctoral Student and Supervisor Day, a day dedicated to co-creation, co-design, and participatory research. Engage with leading experts like Dr. Joanne Woodford and Dr. Elin Inge, delve into innovative homecare projects with Docent Ida Goliath and Dr. Sarah Wallcook, and discuss the crucial role of feedback with Dr. Lena Engqvist Boman.

The Prize (USD 10.000) is meant to reward pre-graduate scientific contributions within the doctoral education. The candidate should not have reached the age of 32 years at the time he/she is nominated to the prize. The prize will be awarded at the Installation Ceremony of Karolinska Institutet.

Tips from KI Grants Office about current calls.

Some of the world’s most prominent Alzheimer’s researchers congregated recently in Stockholm for the tenth anniversary of the prestigious Goodes Prize. The programme included a seminar day and a study visit to Karolinska Institutet followed by a social event in Stockholm City Hall.

The term of office for current assignments within the program committees ends on 31 March 2025. The Committee for Higher Education (KU) welcomes applications for assignments within the program committees for the mandate period 2025-2028.

For the third year in a row, Karolinska Institutet has been placed on the list of Sweden's 100 most attractive employers according to students and young academics. This is in fierce competition with, among others, Ikea, Google, Spotify and Astra Zeneca. This is shown by the annual Young Professional Attraction Index.

Researchers found that a medicine called ferric carboxymaltose given in drip through the vein works faster and better than an iron tablet taken by mouth for the treatment of anaemia – and it is as safe as the tablet. The findings were published in Lancet Global Health.

When the research company Verian presents this year's reputation index for universities and colleges, KI has increased by four points. With an estimate of 70, KI is well above the average of 63.

The European University of Brain and Technology would like to invite you to come present your research at the next NeurotechEU meeting in Istanbul, Turkey!

The academic election of new teacher representatives to KI's University Board (Konsistoriet) has now been completed, and the election results have been confirmed by University Director Veronika Sundström.

The Florman Award, which is annually given for a printed dissertation in physiology or anatomy, has been awarded this year to Hugo Zeberg.

Akademiska hus offers KI employees free training at the Flemingsberg and Solna campuses during the autumn.

Merkel cell carcinoma is an aggressive and often fatal form of skin cancer. Weng-Onn Lui intends to find out how the Merkel cell polyomavirus influences tumour growth and the development of treatment resistance. Meet one of the new professors of Karolinska Institutet who will participate in this year's installation ceremony at Aula Medica on 3 October.

At the end of the summer, Karolinska Institutet was visited by the Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine. The hospital is a partner in the Joint Research Base for Traditional Chinese Medicine (JRBCM) research project run in collaboration with KI.

Our understanding of autism has changed significantly in the past years. Previously viewed as a rare childhood disorder with a focus on deficits and pathology, autism is now recognized as a common, lifelong and heterogenous condition characterized by a broad spectrum of strengths and challenges. With increasing numbers of autistic adults and in particular females, a better understanding of autism in young adulthood for autistic females and males is warranted.

David Freiholtz, PhD student in the Thoracic Surgery group at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, Karolinska Institutet, has been awarded the Senning Scholarship for 2024.

The scholarship was presented during the Scandinavian Thoracic Meeting in Gothenburg by the Swedish Association for Thoracic Surgery in memory of Åke Senning. The scholarship aims to support the most deserving thoracic surgery-focused research project of the year.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet and AstraZeneca have discovered that gene expression in adipose stem cells varies according to sex and type of adipose tissue in mice. These findings may pave the way for future therapeutic interventions to increase the body's fat storage capacity and improve metabolism.

Karolinska Institutet and the National University of Singapore offer a short-term exchange program for hosting up to two PhD students from each university per year.

Dentmed changes the software to connect to the network remotely. You install it yourself. By September 30, you need to have installed the new VPN software. Here is an instruction on how to do it.

The Center for Innovative Medicine (CIMED) supports high-quality clinical research at Campus Flemingsberg. The allocation of their project grants for 2025-2027 was finalized this summer.

Welcome to Yuxia Wei's presentation of her thesis ”Risk factors and prognosis of diabetes with and without an autoimmune component”.

Don't forget to order Cinnamon buns for you team

Errors during cell division can lead to conditions such as cancer and infertility. Jan Ellenberg studies the molecular processes of cell division in order that these diseases can eventually be prevented and treated. Meet one of the new professors of Karolinska Institutet who will participate in this year's installation ceremony at Aula Medica on 3 October.

Ernest Arenas, professor at Karolinska Institutet, passed away on September 15th at the age of 62. Dr. Arenas was widely known both within and outside Sweden as one of the pioneers in Parkinson’s disease research, with a strong commitment to developing better treatment strategies through cell replacement therapy.

Is your immune system functioning as it should? The question is not as simple to answer as one might think. Professor Petter Brodin is trying to understand more about it. At the same time, he hopes to help patients that are severely affected with post-COVID and other conditions where the regulation of the immune system is not working.

In a new study from the Institute of Environmental Medicine (IMM), an alternative method for assessing the cancer potency of air pollution is presented, focusing on mixtures of organic pollutants in particles.