News archive

KI researcher Mai‑Lis Hellenius has been named the winner in the Health category of the Most Promising Over 60 award 2026. She receives the award in recognition of her long‑standing and dedicated work to make research on lifestyle and health understandable, relevant, and accessible to a broad audience.

Forte has announced long-term funding for two national research centres aimed at strengthening knowledge on care and support for people living with dementia. One of the centres, Tracedem – KI Transdisciplinary Research Center for Personalized Dementia Prevention & Care, has been operating at Karolinska Institutet since January 2026.

Elections for Faculty Representatives to KI’s collegial bodies are taking place between 28 April and 3 May. Around 180 candidates were nominated for the elections to the Faculty Board and the committees, and 22 seats are to be filled. Find the full candidate list below.

The sun glittered over Stockholm City Hall and the waters of Lake Mälaren as 143 doctoral graduates and two honorary doctors were conferred in the Blue Hall on Friday 24 April. During the ceremony, they received their hats and were celebrated with strings, singing and a cannon salute, before the festivities continued with a banquet in the Golden Hall.

Laura Bub from the Center for Infectious Medicine (CIM), at the Department of Medicine, Huddinge (MedH), defends her thesis titled "Regulation of lung macrophage differentiation and function by cholesterol metabolites", on 29 April 2026. Main supervisor is Tim Willinger.

Federico Iovino has been awarded a five-year consolidator grant from Karolinska Institutet for his research on bacterial infections that affect the brain. The funding will enable long-term planning in studies of conditions such as meningitis and encephalitis.

Professor Anna Martling at Karolinska Institutet has been elected an Honorary Fellow of the American Surgical Association (ASA), one of the world’s most prestigious surgical organisations. The election was conferred at the ASA Annual Meeting in Seattle on 23 April 2026.

Are you a student at KI and would like to share your views on environmental and sustainability issues in a focus group? You’ll receive a cinema ticket as a thank you for taking part!

The first phase of the external evaluation of research at Karolinska Institutet has now been completed. The review is conducted by an international expert panel, which highlights the need for a clearer strategic framework, stronger internal communication, and further development of leadership and career pathways.

Older people, particularly women, who start treatment with thiazide-type diuretics are at increased risk of developing low sodium levels in the blood. This is shown by a large registry study from the Karolinska Institutet published in the journal JAMA Network Open.

What does an anthro-ethnologist and zoonotic virologists have in common? In the case of those who attended the Nordic Universities Health Crises Network’s two-day meeting at Karolinska Institutet (KI) in April, the common denominator was that they work in areas that connects research and policy, with a special focus on crisis. The meeting explored how universities can remain relevant during crises and strengthen societal engagement, so that they can be a supportive partner to the rest of society

New clues from genetic research may help explain what causes the most common heart defect present at birth. Researchers at KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Karolinska Institutet have identified rare DNA changes during fetal development that can lead to the aortic valve forming with only two cusps instead of three, a condition known as bicuspid aortic valve (BAV).

A new study from Karolinska Institutet shows that gene analysis of breast cancer tumours can identify patients who do not benefit from chemotherapy given before surgery. The findings, published in the journal Nature Communications, could in the long term contribute to more personalised treatment.

Amanda Andersson-Rolf at Karolinska Institutet has been awarded the Swedish Foundations’ Starting Grant 2026. With this funding, she will study acinar cells in the pancreas – research that may contribute to new treatments for pancreatitis.

The Activity Report 2023–2025 provides an overview of ARC’s multidisciplinary research on brain ageing, dementia, mental health, geroscience, multimorbidity, frailty, health inequalities, care organisation, and social relations in older age.

Adopted children who have grown up in more favourable family environments than their siblings are at lower risk of mental health issues, criminality and social problems – benefits that, in some cases, extend to the next generation. These are the findings of a new study of Swedish siblings published in The BMJ.

Blood protein levels change markedly already during childhood and adolescence, and differences between girls and boys become increasingly pronounced with age. This is shown by a new study in Nature Communications from Karolinska Institutet in collaboration with colleagues from SciLifeLab and KTH Royal Institute of Technology. The results suggest that blood protein levels change over the course of a lifetime, rendering adult reference values inadequate for children and adolescents.

How do you design, plan and conduct a successful clinical study? This question was at the centre of a well-attended seminar on statistical and practical methods in clinical studies, jointly organised for researchers at Karolinska Institutet and within Region Stockholm.

Torbjörn Tomson, professor at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, has been awarded the European Epileptology Award. The award is presented by the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE), and Tomson is receiving it in recognition of his work to advance knowledge of anti-epileptic drugs and epilepsy during pregnancy, amongst other achievements.

Autism and ADHD are defined based on diagnostic criteria that focus on difficulties. In a new doctoral thesis at Karolinska Institutet, psychologist Lovisa Alehagen shows how a focus on everyday functioning can provide a more comprehensive picture of the individual, using the WHO classification ICF and a digital platform for functional assessment.

Are you planning an event for autumn 2026 being aimed at the public? Schedule it between 5 to 12 October and be a part of Nobel Calling Stockholm. A week that offers inspiring events and educational meetings in the spirit of knowledge.

The migration of videos from Kaltura (My Media/Media Gallery in Canvas) to Canvas Studio has now begun.
From 22 April, videos will gradually be copied to your personal Studio library.

Karin Leander is awarded Karolinska Institutet’s Sustainability Award for her commitment to integrating climate, environmental and sustainability perspectives into the medical programme. Through pedagogical initiatives and a digital tool, she contributes to strengthening future physicians’ competence for a more sustainable healthcare system. The award was presented on 16 April in conjunction with KI’s Sustainability Day.

KI’s Sustainability Day took place on 16 April at the Flemingsberg campus. The morning programme included lectures, discussions, and the presentation of KI’s Sustainability Award and the award for the student poster exhibition. The theme of the day was “From plate to planet: how food shapes our health”.

Kristi Sidney Annerstedt is an Associate Professor in global health at Karolinska Institutet with a focus on health promotion and health equity. Kristi is an experienced mixed methods researcher with strong skills in epidemiological study design, process evaluations, and intervention acceptability. Kristi has had support from Clinicum.

The current global situation, with sharply rising hardware costs, is affecting our ability to rent and procure new computers for the organisation.

In this volatile world we live in, KI needs to both protect our openness and strengthen our ability to take prudent, responsible decisions. This applies not least to our international collaborations – a linchpin of our identity and success, now and in the future.

Andrew P. Feinberg, Foreign Adjunct Professor within the Translational Psychiatry research group at the Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery, has been awarded the 2026 AACR-G.H.A. Clowes Award for Outstanding Basic Cancer Research.

A new search service for research information is now being launched at KI. The service is based on data from KI RIMS, which collects and organises information about researchers, research groups, publications and research grants. The aim of the new search service is to make it easy for researchers, as well as other users, to find relevant information about KI’s researchers and research.

Despite new diagnostic methods and expanded vaccination programmes, many children in Uganda continue to suffer from severe brain infections. This is shown in a new study from Karolinska Institutet, published in The Lancet Regional Health – Africa. The researchers’ analysis highlights simple clinical signs that can help healthcare providers more quickly identify children at high risk of death.

Professor Karl-Johan Malmberg is awarded Tobiaspriset 2026 for his research on cell-based immunotherapy for blood cancers. The prize sum of SEK 10 million will be allocated at SEK 2 million per year over a five-year period.

People who have experienced adverse childhood experiences are at increased risk of developing depression later in life that is difficult to treat. This is shown in a new twin study from Karolinska Institutet based on Swedish twin data, published in the journal JAMA Network Open.

Most older adults maintain stable cognitive functioning, independence and healthy social lives as they age, according to a new longitudinal study from Karolinska Institutet. The findings also show that stronger social support may help some people cope with declining cognition without losing everyday independence.

Karolinska Institutet Innovation is now being launched, offering staff and students support in testing their ideas. The ultimate aim is to ensure research is converted into innovations that serve the public and patients’ best interests.

Now you’ll be able to create new teams using a new form, which is easily accessible amongst the apps in Teams.

Students at Karolinska Institutet are invited to take part in a survey about their experiences of equal opportunities. The results will help develop a more inclusive and fair study environment.

The Karolinska Institutet Centre for AI Innovation is to serve as a support centre and skills hub. Here, two of its representatives argue that the healthcare profession needs to be in the driver’s seat so that the technology is adapted to the users rather than vice versa.

Region Stockholm and Karolinska Institutet (KI) have the common goal of improving dental care in the Stockholm County through research and development. The steering group KI / Region Stockholm for dental research (SOF) announces funding for clinical dental research.

Interested in spatial biology? Apply for our CosMx® human whole transcriptome panel grant programme.

In less than two years, Professor Robert Harris at Karolinska Institutet has reached more than 16 million people through his engagement on the social media platform LinkedIn. He has now been admitted to Le Centile, an exclusive international network for leading digital creators.

A researcher at Karolinska Institutet has been awarded a three-year fellowship from the US Alzheimer’s Association to study a new, non-invasive way of delivering potential treatments to the brain in Alzheimer’s disease.

Dr Ann-Sofie Rudberg, a researcher at Karolinska Institutet and a neurologist at Danderyd Hospital, has received significant grants from the Kamprad Foundation and the Swedish Epilepsy Fund for research into drug-resistant epilepsy and dietary treatment.

Ahmadreza Djalali has been imprisoned in Iran for ten years, facing the threat of execution. The case of this KI researcher highlights a growing threat to academic freedom – even in Western countries such as Sweden.

How do we make decisions – and why do we sometimes fail?

The University of Bonn and Radboud University are pleased to invite applications for the Joint Autumn School on Decision-Making, organised within the NeurotechEU alliance.

Credit transfers at first- and second-cycle level are now managed in Ladok. This means that the entire process – from application to decision – is handled directly within the system.

Rachel Fisher, together with Louisa Cheung and Jurga Laurencikiene, has been awarded the Prize for Internationalisation in Teaching and Learning 2026, a joint national award from the medical faculties in Sweden, for the international education initiative BalticSeaBioMed.

Charlotte Ytterberg, at the Division of Physiotherapy, has been awarded SEK 2.7 million in continued funding from the Kamprad Family Foundation for the project Improved Communication in Healthcare – Implementation of Teach Back.

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.