News archive

In 2024, sisters Lisa, Maria, and Anne Örtqvist were all appointed as docents at Karolinska Institutet, a unique achievement that has garnered attention both within their family and the research community. Despite pursuing different career paths and research fields, they have inspired one another and drawn strength from their shared passion for medicine and research.

A new study from Karolinska Institutet shows that self-guided cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) online is as effective as psychologist-led internet-based CBT in reducing the symptoms of atopic eczema. The results, which are published in the highly ranked journal JAMA Dermatology, can lead to improved access to treatment for patients and reduce the burden on healthcare.

How are emerging plasma biomarkers related to the diagnostic tests currently used in clinical routines? And does the earlier evidence from highly selective research cohorts translate to the heterogeneous real-world data? Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have sought to answer these questions in a study published in eBioMedicine with Dr. Marina Bluma from the Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society as the first author.

KI President Annika Östman Wernerson has been elected as a member of IVA's Biotechnology Division. This took place in connection with the Academy meeting in November, when IVA, the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences, elected 41 new Swedish and international members – prominent researchers and experts from both the business community and the public sector.

Professor Anna Wredenberg wants to understand in detail how the body works. That is why she delves into the unknown world of mitochondria. For patients with hereditary genetic diseases, this could mean a long-awaited diagnosis.

A new study from the Institute of Environmental Medicine (IMM), published in The Lancet Regional Health – Europe, shows that certain cardiometabolic diseases may affect the risk and prognosis of motor neuron diseases. The findings highlight a complex link between heart diseases and neurological disorders like ALS, which could contribute to improved prevention and care for patients with these severe conditions.

In this webinar series we will explore the wide scope of psychedelics research conducted at various centers in Europe. Throughout the sessions we will cover a wide range of topics: from pharmacology and preclinical investigations to the clinical trials conducted in psychiatry. The three sessions in this series build upon each other but can also be attended in isolation. In each session, cutting-edge research is presented by esteemed researchers from different universities in Europe.

Cancer- och allergifonden (the Swedish Cancer and Allergy Fund) is awarding a total of SEK 3.6 million to 21 research projects in the field of cancer and allergy. Of these, twelve researchers at Karolinska Institutet will be awarded SEK 2.3 million. The grants aim to promote groundbreaking research that improves the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of cancer and allergies.

Some of the amendments apply to the delegation of authority to the deans, university director and heads of department, while others concern the organisation as a whole.

Ten years ago, a cancer patient in Sweden was treated with CAR T-cell therapy for the first time. Today he is cured. Several challenges remain before the treatment can be given to everyone who could benefit from it, and how to achieve this was one of the questions discussed at the SWECARNET network’s annual education day.

Congratulations to Louise Emilsson who receives the Rising star Award from United European Gastroenterology. Ten emerging scientists are selected annually from all over Europe to receive the prize, which is awarded to young, promising researchers in gastrointestinal diseases in connection with the annual European UEG conference in gastroenterology. The award ceremony will be held in Berlin in October 2025.

Get to know Hong Qian, Professor of Molecular Haematology at the Department of Medicine, Huddinge (MedH) since 26 November 2024.

Karolinska Institutet is part of NeurotechEU (NTEU), a European University alliance. The Neuroscience Internship Program Bonn provides bachelor and master students with an opportunity to engage in hands-on lab experiences within the field of neuroscience and neurotechnology. Last day for application Jan 8, 2025

On November 18-22, 2024 IMM organised the course “Health risk assessment of chemicals - principles and applications” within the EU funded project PARC (Partnership for the Assessment of Risks from Chemicals). The course was attended by 32 participants from 22 PARC partners in 13 countries.

Coinciding with the Nobel celebrations in Stockholm, a diverse group of global health experts and researchers were invited to GPH for a pivotal workshop. The meeting, led by Anders Nordström, Senior Advisor in the Global Child Health and the Sustainable Development Goals research group, aimed to lay the groundwork for an upcoming Lancet Series on Health Diplomacy.

Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) is a severe and rapidly progressing neurodegenerative disease that affects both motor and cognitive functions. Often misdiagnosed or underdiagnosed due to a lack of specific biomarkers, PSP has posed significant challenges for accurate diagnosis and treatment. However, a new study published in the journal Alzheimer & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Associationoffers promising insights into this debilitating condition.

The Mats Paulsson Foundations award Jan Johansson, professor at the Department of Medicine, Huddinge, Karolinska Institutet, SEK 10 million for research into new innovative treatment methods for Alzheimer's disease. The aim of the research project is to create a new drug that can achieve a breakthrough in the treatment of the most common dementia disease.

Analyses of self-tests for human papillomavirus (HPV) can be used to divide HPV-positive women into three risk groups, according to a new study from Karolinska Institutet and Queen Mary University of London published in PLOS Medicine. This method could be important for enhancing cervical cancer screening.

Emma Eliasson at the National centre for suicide research and prevention (NASP) has been awarded an establishment grant of 3,744,000 SEK from Forte. This grant will finance a research project aimed at evaluating supportive follow-up calls —Uppföljningssamtal — as a method to reduce suicides in Sweden.

We congratulate the two researchers from the Department of Medicine, Huddinge who have been awarded grants from the Swedish Childhood Cancer Foundation.

New research from Karolinska Institutet highlights the possibility of screening people with type 2 diabetes for liver damage at the same time as they undergo screening for eye disease. The study is published in Lancet Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

When crisis or war comes’ is both the title of a now well-known brochure and the theme of Sweden's first Health Crisis Forum, organised by the Centre for Health Crises at Karolinska Institute (KI). Over 100 specially invited participants, including two state secretaries, the surgeon general and the National Board of Health and Welfare's head of emergency preparedness, gathered to discuss the role of higher education institutions in the event of a health crisis or war.

On 10 December, it was announced that the Centre for Health Crises will receive 3 million Norwegian kroner in funding from the Nordic Council of Ministers' research funding body, Nordforsk. The funding will go towards a project to create a Nordic health crisis network. The funding is based on a call for proposals in the area of preparedness and resilience. that the Centre, together with partners in other Nordic countries.

The Swedish Childhood Cancer Foundation is awarding more than SEK 80 million to Karolinska Institutet for paediatric oncology research in 2024. The allocation includes 29 projects run by researchers at KI.

A new study from Karolinska Institutet shows that long-term exposure to air pollution contributes to millions of deaths in India. The research, published in The Lancet Planetary Health, emphasises the need for stricter air quality regulations in the country.

The Bergendorff scholarship was founded in 2022 in honor of Anders Bergendorff, the former program director of the master programme in Toxicology at IMM. This scholarship supports summer internships for students at the program, and the awardees present their projects at the annual Bergendorff seminar.

Advanced Medicinal Therapy Products, ATMP, span broadly over medical fields and the aim of this symposium is to enhance networking within ATMP and to get a flavor of academic and commercial development of ATMPs in Stockholm and Sweden. NextGenNK and CCRM Nordic are inviting you to a mini-symposium with the focus on ATMP on January 22, 2025.

Moon landings, worms and micro-RNA are just three shared interests held by Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun, who told the story of how they first aimed for the stars and achieved a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in their Nobel lectures with humor and erudition.

Max Kleijberg, postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Nursing, and Markus Saarijärvi, lecturer at the Department of Nursing, receive a total of 3.3 million SEK in grants from Forte.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet and Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) have developed AI-driven warning technology capable of detecting infections up to 24 hours before symptoms appear.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet and the University of Gothenburg have identified two types of metabolic-associated fatty liver disease – a liver-specific type and a systemic type that affects other organs and tissues. The discovery could lead to improved diagnosis and treatment of this growing patient group. Two studies are published back-to-back in Nature Medicine.

Call for scientific proposals for the Swedish Suicide Research Conference 2025 is open. The conference will take place on May 6–7 in Stockholm. The submission deadline is January 10.

One in ten adults in society suffer from chronic kidney disease (CKD), a disease characterized by progressive loss of kidney function. Altered kidney function can impact on the risk/benefit of many medications. People with advanced chronic kidney disease have to be careful about the medications they take because their kidneys don't work as well as they should. Some medications are not safe for them to take at all while others require dose adjustments or strict monitoring for safety.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have discovered how the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19, manipulates human proteins to replicate and evade the immune system. The results have been published in the scientific journal Nature Communications.

Amaia Calderon-Larrañaga and Weili Xu are recipients of the Elderly and Ageing 2024 Grant from Forte and will both receive funding for the period 2025-2027.

Professor Camilla Björkegren at the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Karolinska Institutet, is awarded a distinguished professor grant within natural and engineering sciences by the Swedish Research Council. Out of 83 applications, four grants are awarded to four different universities.

During November and December, KI's bachelor programmes representatives participated in three fairs across the country: the Kunskap & Framtid fair in Gothenburg and the Saco Student fair in Kista and Malmö. Tens of thousands of high school graduates attended to get inspiration for their future careers.

Congratulations to the researchers at the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics (MEB) who received a total of nearly 120 million SEK from the Swedish funding agencies (FORTE, the Swedish Research Council, the Swedish Cancer Society and the Erling-Persson Foundation)!

Over the past decade, the proportion of residents in Stockholm County who identify as bisexual has nearly doubled. The younger generations are driving the trend and many of them have previously identified as heterosexual. This is according to a study published in JAMA Network Open by researchers at Karolinska Institutet in collaboration with the Centre for Epidemiology and Community Medicine within Region Stockholm in Sweden.

PhD student Birte Schmid from the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology at Karolinska Institutet reflects on her enriching experience at the BonnBrain3 Meeting on "States – Behavior, Neural Circuits and Codes."

Many of KI’s students have similar lives. Studying, hanging out with friends, exercising, and perhaps being involved in the student union or section. For some, the factor of having children is added to the equation. What is it like to study full-time and be a parent at the same time?

New research from Karolinska Institutet and Columbia University shows that the heart has a mini-brain – its own nervous system that controls the heartbeat. A better understanding of this system, which is much more diverse and complex than previously thought, could lead to new treatments for heart diseases. The study, conducted on zebrafish, is published in Nature Communications.

When you hear the words mucus and snot, you might think of colds, snails or drooling babies. But the runny, sometimes sticky substance often plays a vital role in our lives. And mucus also has potential to be a medicine.

Today, women with oestrogen-sensitive breast cancer receive anti-hormonal therapy. Researchers now show that postmenopausal women with low-risk tumours have a long-term benefit for at least 20 years, while the benefit was more short-term for younger women with similar tumour characteristics who had not yet gone through the menopause. The results are reported in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI).

Patients with frontotemporal dementia often lack the ability to empathize. A study at Karolinska Institutet has now shown that these patients do not show the same brain activity as healthy individuals when they witness the pain of others, a finding that it is hoped will increase understanding of this specific dementia disease.

The Swedish Research Council has awarded seven different grants, including doctoral programme grants within register-based research and project grants for research on antimicrobial resistance. The grant decisions apply to eleven researchers at KI.

The Swedish Heart Lung Foundation (Hjärt-Lungfonden) has awarded Jonas F. Ludvigsson a 3-year-grant for the project ”Inflammatory bowel disease, inflammation and risk of cardiovascular disease”.

On 26 November an experiment in a sounding rocket was launched at Esrange Space Center in Kiruna, Sweden by a research group at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology (MTC) at Karolinska Institutet. The researchers aims to collect data for a study that examines how a type of immune cell, T cells, are affected by lack of gravity, called microgravity.

KI researchers Emma R. Andersson, Volker Lauschke, Gustaf Edgren and Alireza Salami have been awarded the European Research Council’s prestigious consolidation grant and a total of approximately EUR 8 million (about SEK 90 million) for their research.

KI has presented this year’s sustainability award to Assistant Senior Lecturer Emma Swärdh for her dedication and leadership in the field of sustainable development. Created in 2023, the award was presented at KI’s Sustainability Day on 22 May for the second time. “I hope that it will inspire more people to get involved in sustainability issues,” she says.