News archive

Teresa Santos discovered health economics whilst studying economics. She is now a PhD student, and her research aims to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of various interventions in order to provide decision-makers with the evidence they need to optimise investments in public health.

Meet Maxim Kan, postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Global Public Health, who was recently awarded an establishment grant from Forte of SEK 3,069,000. He will use the funding to investigate health inequalities among participants in Swedish needle and syringe programs.

Thanks to the prestigious prevention grant from the Swedish Heart Lung Foundation, he will now evaluate whether digital physiotherapy delivered via an app can promote physical activity and reduce the risk of recurrent stroke.

The KI Housing office will be closed on May 14 and May 15.

Associate Professor Sara Hägg from the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics has been elected to join the Academy of Geroscience.

On 11-13 May, safety inspections will be carried out in Neo. PIs and researchers are encouraged to participate.

It has now been decided who will take up their posts as new Faculty Representatives of the Faculty Board, the Committee for Higher Education, the Committee for Doctoral Education and the Committee for Research on 1 July 2026. This concludes the academic elections at KI for this round.

Researcher and concert pianist Fredrik Ullén is launching a research project exploring how the interplay between heredity and environment influences musical performance. The project is a collaboration between Karolinska Institutet and the Max Planck Institute and is made possible by a generous donation from the philanthropist Marcus Storch.

After completing a bachelor’s degree in economics, Philip Lindersten realised he was more interested in people than in markets. Today, he is studying on the psychology programme at KI, where the encounter between research and real-life experiences became decisive for his choice.

There is now an opportunity for those who wish to contribute to KI’s quality assurance and academic development by serving as chair, vice-chair or members of the Docent Committee or the Recruitment Committee. The call for expressions of interest is open from 7 May to 1 June 2026.

Chronic immune diseases are shaped by multiple inflammatory processes happening at the same time, each in different parts of the tissue. This is shown in a mouse study from Karolinska Institutet, published in the journal Immunity. The findings may help explain why patients respond differently to treatment.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have successfully treated children aged 1–3 years with peanut allergies. The children slowly became accustomed to eating peanuts by consuming small amounts of them daily, which were gradually increased over time. The results are presented in The Lancet Regional Health – Europe.

The cybersecurity act places greater emphasis on preventive IT and information security measures, systematic work on information security, and formalised requirements for the handling and reporting of IT incidents.

A key international handbook on how to improve care for older people is now available in Swedish. The document, developed by the World Health Organization (WHO), focuses on person-centred care in primary healthcare and has been carefully translated with help from experts at Karolinska Institutet and partner organisations.

Severe bleeding after trauma can rapidly become life-threatening. In a new doctoral thesis from Karolinska Institutet, Marcus Wannberg examines how the body's coagulation system begins to fail early after injury, which injuries most often lead to fatal bleeding, and how high-risk injuries can be identified.

An abstract from Karolinska Institutet has been selected as one of the top ten at the European Renal Association (ERA) Congress 2026 in Glasgow, from among 3,172 submitted entries. The study highlights how even small variations within the normal range of albuminuria are associated with adverse clinical outcomes in patients with chronic kidney disease.

Karolinska Institutet has now launched the first version of its own journal list, KI-JL, in which scientific journals are level-graded based on peer review. The list is intended to support researchers in decisions about publishing and journal quality and will be used in the university’s resource allocation.

Laura Fratiglioni, senior professor at NVS, was awarded the honor of Knight of the Order of the Star of Italy at a symposium on healthy aging at the Italian Embassy on April 28. She received the honor in recognition of her groundbreaking research in aging.

A new research project at Karolinska Instutet has been awarded a five-year grant from FORMAS, the Swedish Research Council for Sustainable Development, to study how long-term exposure to air pollution and transport noise may influence the risk of developing dementia, using large population-based data from Sweden.

The virtual SASUF+ AIMday event, 26-27 May is approaching. The regular registration period has closed but there are around twenty challenges, several within the theme of Sustainable Health, for which it is still possible for late registration.

Each March, the Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society (NVS) welcomes students from Tokyo Metropolitan University (TMU) for a two-week academic exchange. This year, we hosted eight second-year students from four-year programmes: three from occupational therapy, one from physiotherapy, one from radiology, and three from nursing.

The occurrence of microscopic colitis in Sweden has risen steadily over the past decades, according to a new study from Karolinska Institutet published in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology. The findings show that the disease is more common than previously recognised and affects mainly older adults, especially women.

The first stage of the migration from Kaltura (My Media/Media Gallery in Canvas) to Canvas Studio is now complete. Your videos have been copied to your personal Studio library, in a collection: “Migrated videos [username]”.
The next stage will be Search and replace, where existing Kaltura links and embeds in Canvas will be replaced with the corresponding Canvas Studio videos.

On 1 May, Ann Christin von Vogelsang will assume the role of Head of the Divisionof Nursing at NVS. She sees the assignment as both rewarding and demanding and highlights the importance of education, research, and good working conditions.

Elli Mouchtaridi from the Center for Infectious Medicine (CIM), at the Department of Medicine, Huddinge (MedH), defends her thesis titled "Adaptation of human MAIT cells to tissue site and cytokine cues in the microenvironment", on 8 May 2026. Main supervisor is Johan Sandberg.

The 2026 Karolinska Institutet Employee Survey has now been completed. The response rate was 68 per cent, providing a robust basis for continued dialogue and development of KI’s organisation and working environment. Overall, the results indicate stability and consistently high levels across several key areas.

For a week, a conference room at the old Långholmen prison in Stockholm and the lawn outside were transformed into the fictional country of Marconia, when Sweden’s new emergency medical team initative met to conduct a training exercise. The week-long exercise was planned and carried out by the research group Global Disaster Medicine Karolinska Institutet (KI), which is a designated centre of expertise in the field by the National Board of Health and Welfare.

Treating pregnancy-related iron deficiency anaemia with a one-time iron infusion provides better health outcomes and greater value than standard iron tablets, according to a new study published in The Lancet Obstetrics, Gynaecology & Women’s Health. The findings may help guide healthcare decisions in low-resource settings.

A health impact assessment from the Institute of Environmental Medicine shows that proposed changes to Sweden’s traffic noise regulations could lead to adverse health effects. The proposal, developed by the National Board of Housing, Building and Planning, includes removing the requirement for a quiet side in noise-exposed dwellings.

People with severe asthma have nearly twice the risk of dying prematurely compared to other asthma patients. This is shown in a new study published in the European Respiratory Journal.

This year, the Swedish Rheumatism Association is awarding almost SEK 14 million in funding for research into rheumatic diseases. One third of the funded projects are being carried out at Karolinska Institutet.

An enzyme in the liver may partly explain sex differences in the body’s handling of cholesterol and the risk of developing atherosclerosis. This is shown in a new study from Karolinska Institutet, published in Nature Communications, based on experiments conducted in mice and human liver cells.

Small abnormalities in blood sugar, blood lipids and inflammation several years before pregnancy are linked to an increased risk of high blood pressure during pregnancy and pre-eclampsia, according to a new study from Karolinska Institutet published in JAMA Network Open. The findings may contribute to earlier risk assessment and preventive measures in antenatal care.

Low doses of the investigational medicinal product endoxifen reduce breast density to the same extent as the standard treatment tamoxifen, but without causing such troublesome side effects. This is shown by a new study from Karolinska Institutet published in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. The results may have implications for future preventive treatment of breast cancer.

MINI is a tool for structured interviews available for support in diagnosing psychiatric conditions within healthcare. At present, KI advises against using this tool as there is uncertainty regarding the licensing requirements.

After nearly four decades as a photographer at Karolinska Institutet, Ulf Sirborn is retiring. In a photo exhibition in BZ, he now shares moments from his photographic life – and the stories behind the images. The exhibition will be on display throughout the semester, until June.

Stefanie Renken from Vecura presented her talk, “Clinical Manufacturing of Gene-Modified NK Cells for Allogeneic Therapy,” at a full day conference organized by Flemingsberg Science in Campus Huddinge.

From 1 May, a new framework agreement with Dustin will apply for the purchase of licences and cloud services. The framework agreement has been signed jointly with other higher education institutions and replaces the previous framework agreement with SoftwareONE.

In April, 30 participants finished the course "Leadership for research group leaders". This course is run every second year and is part of KI’s efforts to strengthen the scientific leadership at the research group leader level.

On Earth Day 2026, the Student Association for Sustainability hosted a conference featuring lectures and an interdisciplinary panel discussion under the theme Community visions for tomorrow. Three PhD students from the Global Child Health & the Sustainable Development Goals group contributed by sharing research insights and engaging in discussions on sustainability, health equity, and climate vulnerable contexts.

During one week in April, Emelie Norke visited the Global Child Health and the Sustainable Development Goals research group as a PRAO student, under the supervision of Carina King and Jill Åhs. At the end of her placement, she shared her experiences and reflections from the week.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet, in collaboration with colleagues at The Scripps Research Institute and Emory University, have developed a new vaccine strategy that has generated antibodies capable of neutralising highly divergent HIV variants. The study, published in the journal Nature, provides new insights into how the immune system can be guided towards a particularly protected part of the virus.

Problems with Tortalk as a pedagogical accommodations for students with disabilities during digital exams have been noticed lately. Now there is a temporary solution that can be used by students during a digital exam.

A genetic alteration that is already routinely analysed in patients with acute myeloid leukaemia can be used to identify patients who respond to a new targeted therapy, according to a study published in the journal Discover Oncology.

“What We Saw in Gaza” was the title of a seminar organised on 21 April by the Centre for Health Crises and the research group Global Disaster Medicine – Health Needs and Response. Researchers and healthcare professionals who had recently been working in humanitarian healthcare in Gaza, shared their experiences and answered the many questions posed by the engaged audience. The closing words – never to accept that a situation like this becomes normalised – echoed through the hall.

Healthcare professionals, artists, and cultural experts from across the Nordic and Baltic regions gathered in Stockholm on April 20–21 2026, for the second Nordic–Baltic seminar on art in hospital environments. Hosted at Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital, the event focused on how art can enhance well-being for patients, families, and healthcare staff.

Every year, the Bengt Fridlund Prize is awarded to an individual who has made a significant scientific contribution in the field of cardiovascular medicine. This year’s recipient of the prize is Andreas Claesson, who works at the Department of Clinical Science and Education at Södersjukhuset.

A new research project at Karolinska Institutet will examine whether digital interventions can help parents manage anger in everyday life and thereby prevent negative consequences for children.

The Autism Research Network at Karolinska Institutet (AutNetKI) warmly congratulates our member Miriam Martini on receiving an award from the International Society for Autism Research (INSAR) for her doctoral thesis.

The KI Housing office will be closed on the 1st of May.