KI News

Blood-thinning drugs not only reduce the risk of stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation but are also associated with a significant reduction in the risk of dementia among these patients, according to a new register-based study by researchers at Karolinska Institutet’s Department of Clinical Sciences, Danderyd Hospital. The study is published in the prestigious European Heart Journal. Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a common heart rhythm disorder that is known to be associated with an increased risk of stroke and dementia. Oral anticoagulants, or blood-thinning drugs, have been shown to reduce the likelihood of stroke but it has not been clear whether they could also prevent dementia in AF patients. However, it’s been hypothesised that they might protect against the small clots that can cause unnoticed microscopic strokes that eventually lead to cognitive deterioration. Looking at data from Swedish registries, Mårten Rosenqvist and Leif Friberg at Karolinska Institutet’s Department of Clinical Sciences, Danderyd Hospital have examined the link between oral anticoagulant treatment and dementia in patients with AF. The researchers identified all patients in Sweden who had a diagnosis of AF between 2006 and 2014. Among 444,106 patients with atrial fibrillation, 26,210 were diagnosed with dementia during the study period. The sooner treatment was started, the greater was the effect Less than half of the patients were taking blood-thinning drugs to prevent blood clots when they first joined the study. Those who were taking blood-thinning drugs had a 29 per cent lower risk of developing dementia than patients who were not on such treatment at the start of the study. When the researchers looked at what happened during the period of time that the patients continued to take the drugs, they found a 48 per cent reduction in the risk of dementia. They also found that the protective effect was greater the sooner the treatment was started and that there was no difference between the older blood-thinning drug warfarin and the newer oral anticoagulants. “Although we can’t prove a causal relationship, we believe that the results strongly suggest that blood-thinning drugs protect against dementia in AF patients”, says Professor Mårten Rosenqvist. The new findings could have important clinical implications. “Patients on oral anticoagulation for stroke prevention often stop taking the drugs after a few years. Doctors should explain to their patients how these drugs work and why they should use them. No brain can withstand a constant bombardment of microscopic clots in the long run”, says associate professor Leif Friberg. The study received no specific financing. Neither of the authors have reported any potential conflicts of interest in relation to the present study. Outside of this, Leif Friberg has received consultancy fees from Bayer, BMS, Pfizer and Sanofi. Mårten Rosenqvist has received grants and/or consultancy fees from Bayer, Boehringer-Ingelheim, BMS, Medtronic, Pfizer, Roche, Sanofi, St Jude Medical and Zenicor. Publication “Less dementia with oral anticoagulation in atrial fibrillation” Leif Friberg and Mårten Rosenqvist European Heart Journal, online 25 October 2017. doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehx579

Being screened again after the age of 60 reduces the risk of cervical cancer in women who have previously had abnormal smear tests and in women who did not have smear tests in their 50s, researchers at Karolinska Institutet show. The study, which is published in PLOS Medicine, is important for setting guidelines on the age at which screening can be discontinued. Despite being screened with gynaecological smear tests, relatively many women over the age of 60 develop cervical cancer. There is currently a discussion on when and against what criteria screening should be discontinued. Different countries discontinue screening at different ages, and in Sweden the upper age limit was raised recently to 64. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have conducted a national study of over half a million women born between 1919 and 1945 in order to examine the incidence of cervical cancer in the over-60s. The researchers looked at the risk of developing cervical cancer between the ages of 61 and 80 depending on the women’s screening history when in their 50s, and compared the risk of developing cervical cancer depending on if the women had been screened after the age of 60 or not. Developed cervical cancer Their results show that five in one thousand women over 60 who had not been screened in their 50s developed cervical cancer; however, if the women were screened between 61 and 65, the risk dropped by 58 per cent to 3.3 cancers per thousand women. For women who previously had abnormal smear tests in their 50s, the reduction in risk associated with screening between the ages of 61 and 65 was also statistically significant. “It might be a good idea to pay closer attention to the results of women’s previous screenings when deciding at which age it can be discontinued,” says Professor Pär Sparén at Karolinska Institutet’s Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics who led the study. Normal smear tests The women who had only had normal smear tests in their 50s showed no measurable lower cancer risk with new tests after age 60. However, the researchers did observe fewer cases of advanced cancer in 61 to 65-year-old women, since screening revealed the cancers at an earlier stage of development. The study was financed by the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research, the Swedish Cancer Society and the Swedish Research Council. Publication Effectiveness of cervical screening after age 60 according to screening history: nationwide cohort study Jiangrong Wang, Bengt Andrae, Karin Sundström, Alexander Ploner, Peter Ström, K. Miriam Elfström, Joakim Dillner, Pär Sparén PLOS Medicine, online 24 October 2017

Commentary: On 23 October 2017, Nature writes on the prosecution of Ahmadreza Djalali, a PhD and former research associate of Karolinska Institutet: “A judge in Tehran has ordered the death penalty for Iranian researcher Ahmadreza Djalali, according to his wife and diplomatic sources in Italy.” Today Reuters confirms that Dr Djalali has been sentenced to death in Iran on suspicion of espionage. As Vice-Chancellor of Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, I would like to express my deepest concern over the detention of Dr. Ahmadreza Djalali who was arrested last year in Iran and who could now face the death penalty. As of today the evidentiary basis of his arrest remains undisclosed. Dr. Djalali is an Iranian-born resident of Sweden and received his PhD in disaster medicine in 2012 at Karolinska Institutet. He was affiliated with Karolinska Institutet until 2016. He teaches at the Università degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale, Italy, and Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium. For many years, he has worked with researchers from all over the world to improve the capacity of hospitals in countries suffering from extreme poverty or affected by disasters and armed conflicts. Karolinska Institutet – a medical university and a Scholars at risk member – is strongly committed to academic freedom and human rights. All citizens are entitled to due process and a fair trial, and no citizen should be subjected to the death penalty. The death penalty is an act of violence that creates more violence and that is in conflict with human dignity, a wealth of research, and all the values our universities stand for. We ask that Dr Djalali be subjected to due process and fair trial. Ole Petter Ottersen, Vice-Chancellor at Karolinska Institutet

Last Friday, Generation Pep organized a half-day event at KI to inform, inspire and bring together people who believe that they can improve children's and young people's opportunities to live a healthy and healthy life. In addition to the Swedish Crown Princess couple, other speakers and panelists, KI's vice-chancellor Ole Petter Ottersen and Professor Carl Johan Sundberg participated in the program.

For the sixth year in a row, Karolinska Institutet’s Global Master’s Scholarship has been awarded to master’s students from outside Europe. The students have been admitted to one of Karolinska Institutet’s (KI) eight global master’s programmes on the basis of their excellent qualifications. KI once again saw the highest number of applicants per place of all Swedish universities that participate in the Swedish Council for Higher Education’s calls for master’s candidates. This year, seven of 1,500 applicants were presented with their scholarship, worth between SEK 180,000 and 360,000, at a ceremony held on 17 October. The scholarships cover the students’ fees to a value of between SEK 180,000 and 200,000 a year and the money comes from the Swedish Council for Higher Education (UHR). “This is an important part of KI’s strategy and efforts to be a more international university,” says Anna Lena Paulsson, Head of the International Relations Office at KI. Qualification-based scholarship The scholarship is entirely qualification-based and considers the student’s grades, work experience, research experience and a motivational letter that the students write themselves and attach to their applications.  One of the scholarship winners is Fatematuj Juhara from Bangladesh, who studies toxicology. “Like many others here, the reason why I chose KI was its good reputation and quality. KI is a prestigious university with a vision that I share. I have always known that I wanted to work in health and medical care and by being an active student at KI I can be part of KI’s vision of improving people’s health,” Fatematuj Juhara says. Scholarship winner Shuhan Xu from Singapore is studying on the master’s programme in Molecular Technologies in the Life Sciences, a collaborative programme between KI, KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Stockholm University.  “I was an exchange student at KI last year and I loved it! Everyone is so friendly and nice,” he says. “KI is at the forefront in the research and I really want to be part of it,” he goes on. Highest number of applications per place in Sweden Over 3,300 students from 128 counties applied to KI’s global master’s programme beginning in autumn 2017 and KI is also the Swedish higher education institution that has the most applicants per programme in the international master’s programmes.  Vice-Chancellor Ole Petter Ottersen was at the ceremony to present the scholarships: “It’s fantastic to see these highly ambitious students from different parts of the world coming here and enriching our university,” he says.

Karolinska Institutet’s applications to the Swedish Research Council for national funding for research infrastructure have proved successful. Two out of three applications in which KI was the main applicant were granted funding, as well as seven of eight applications in which KI was a co-applicant. At the end of September, the Swedish Research Council presented the results of applications for long-term investment in research infrastructure. In total, the Council decided on financing amounting to approximately SEK 4 billion over a period of up to eight years. National investments are made in high-quality facilities, equipment and databases that are of crucial importance to the development of research and innovation. Stefan Eriksson, KI’s vice-dean of infrastructure, is satisfied with the outcome: “It is great to see how our applications have been received by the Swedish Research Council. Two of our three applications in which KI was the main applicant were granted funding, as well as seven of eight applications in which we are participating as co-applicants. These infrastructure investments are of course not open every year so it is vital that we take advantage when they are available,” he says. The two approved infrastructure grants in which KI is the main applicant are: The National E-infrastructure for Aging Research (NEAR) NEAR is a collaboration between six universities: Karolinska Institutet, Blekinge Institute of Technology, the University of Gothenburg, Jönköping University, Lund University and Umeå University. NEAR’s head office will be based at the Aging Research Center (ARC) and the organisation will be under the leadership of Laura Fratiglioni, professor at the Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society at Karolinska Institutet. The purpose of the investment is to develop a technical platform for managing and coordinating high quality population-based databases in Sweden, to provide researchers with access to the information contained therein and thereby create the conditions for future high-quality research. About the investment on ARC’s website The Swedish Twin Registry (STR) The Swedish Twins Registry was established at KI in 1959 and is now an infrastructure of national importance. In addition to KI, the members of the consortium are the University of Gothenburg, Stockholm School of Economics, Jönköping University, Linköping University, Lund University, Umeå University and Örebro University. Patrik Magnusson, researcher in the Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Karolinska Institutet, is director of  the STR. The grant from the Swedish Research Council will be used to maintain and expand the registry. Also included is an investment in further improving the availability of data and ensuring that more research groups in Sweden can gain access to this unique registry material. As a first stage, a national committee will be formed with members from the universities in the consortium. About the investment at STR’s website

Two researchers at Karolinska Institutet receive a total of SEK 15 million in project funding from the Erling-Persson Foundation. The funding is awarded over a three-year period. In its support of scientific research the Erling-Persson Family Foundation prioritizes projects with a focus on medicine and healthcare. The Foundation has a preference for research that is close to the patient and application-oriented, as well as built on collaboration across scientific boundaries. The two projects currently receiving funding are related to the areas of rheumatism/ immunology and patient-related digital diagnostics tools, respectively. Project: Developing a vaccine against rheumatoid arthritis Principal investigator: Rikard Holmdahl, Professor at the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics Funding: SEK 9 million More about Rikard Holmdahl's research Project: Patient-related diagnosis of cancer and infectious diseases with mobile digital microscopy and artificial intelligence Principal investigator: Johan Lundin, Visiting Professor at the Department of Public Health Sciences Funding: SEK 6 million

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have identified an evolutionarily preserved scent molecule in mammalian blood that attracts predators and repels prey. In the study, published in Scientific Reports, they also report that humans exposed to the smell become stressed and react to it as if they were prey. Most animals use their sense of smell to find partners, hunt for food and detect danger. These natural smells, or chemical signals, normally comprise hundreds of scent molecules, which are often species-specific. The smell of blood, on the other hand, is different, as it is important to a large number of animal species, predators and prey alike. Scientists therefore think that the smell of blood might originate in a single, evolutionarily preserved “food and warning molecule”. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet now report that they might have identified this molecule in trans-4,5-epoxy-(E)-2-decenal, or E2D for short. A truly interdisciplinary project “We’ve been working closely with Professor Matthias Laska at Linköping University, who isolated the molecule from porcine blood and first discovered that predators were attracted by the scent of E2D,” says Associate Professor Johan Lundström at Karolinska Institutet’s Department of Clinical Neuroscience. “Together we tested the scent molecule on blood-sucking flies, wolves, mice and humans, so it was a truly interdisciplinary project.” The fly liked the smell as much as the smell of real blood. When the wolves detected the scent of E2D, which had been wiped onto a piece of wood, they licked, bit and protected it as if it were an actual prey. When the scent was then tested on mice, the reaction was different. The mice displayed flight behaviour and tried to avoid the smell just as they do when they detect the smell of real blood. Humans perceived the smell as a threat In human participants, the researchers exposed individuals to a wide range of smells, including E2D, while measuring their movements. When the participants detected the smell of E2D they recoiled as if to avoid it, even though it was not perceived as unpleasant. Their hands also perspired more. The participants were also asked to locate images of faces that could be perceived as emotional on a computer screen as quickly as they could. When exposed to E2D, their ability to do this improved. Previous studies have shown that this ability is augmented in threatening situations, suggesting that people unconsciously perceive the smell of blood as a threat. “E2D seems to activate our entire general defence system,” explains lead author Dr Artin Arshamian, postdoctoral researcher in Dr Lundström’s group. “Our findings concur with paleontological data showing that our earliest relatives, the early primates, were almost certainly insectivores and were primarily the prey of other animals. Modern humans are without doubt predators, but we probably evolved from a prey species, and some aspects of this characteristic remain.” Next, the researchers intend to study the brain mechanisms behind the observed behaviours and whether E2D, and thus the smell of blood, can affect even more complex behaviours such as decision-making. Could play a role in certain occupations “This would be extremely important for people who have to take difficult decisions in their daily jobs while exposed to the smell of blood, such as trauma surgeons and nurses,” says Dr Lundström. “Blood is essential to all life so maybe it’s not so strange that it can affect us so powerfully.” The study was financed by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, the Swedish Research Council, the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) and the Swedish Foundation for Humanities and Social Sciences. None of the authors have reported any conflicts of interest. Publication “A mammalian blood odor component serves as an approach-avoidance cue across phylum border - from flies to humans” Artin Arshamian, Matthias Laska, Amy R. Gordon, Matilda Norberg, Christian Lahger, Danja K. Porada, Nadia Jelvez Serra, Emilia Johansson, Martin Schaefer, Mats Amundin, Harald Melin, Andreas Olsson, Mats J. Olsson, Marcus Stensmyr & Johan N. Lundström Scientific Reports, online 20 October 2017

Stockholm3, the new and innovative prostate cancer test based on research in Henrik Grönberg’s group at Karolinska Institutet, has been rewarded with the EIT Innovators Award. EIT Innovators Award recognizes products and services with a very high potential for societal and economic impact. Stockholm3 is a blood test that detects the risk of aggressive prostate cancer by combining five protein markers, more than 100 genetic markers, clinical data and a proprietary algorithm. Stockholm3 finds 20% more aggressive cancers and at the same time reduces the number of unnecessary treatment by 50%. If screening for prostate cancer based on Stockholm is introduced in Europe it is possible to save 500,000 men from unnecessary and dangerous treatments and save millions for society. The Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare is expected to reach a decision about a Swedish screening program for prostate cancer later in 2017. Stockholm3 is presently used at some 200 care facilities in Sweden, Norway and Finland.

Mattias Carlström, associate professor at the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology at Karolinska Institutet, has been awarded the Prince Daniel research grant to promising young researchers of SEK 6 million from the Swedish Heart-Lung Foundation. The grant will be used to study the ability of beetroot to decrease the risk of diabetes, renal failure and cardiovascular disease. There is a correlation between high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and renal failure, and many argue that this link may be due to oxidative stress – that is, highly reactive oxygen compounds that damage cells and organs – in the body's small blood vessels. Mattias Carlström’s theory is that the condition can be alleviated by supplements of nitrate – a substance that occurs naturally in foodstuffs such as spinach, beetroot and rucola. During a clinical study, patients with cardiovascular and renal disease or diabetes will drink beetroot juice twice a day. Carlström’s research group will then measure parameters such as the diet’s effect on blood pressure, kidney function and insulin sensitivity. If the study shows favourable results it may lead to beetroot being added to the list of possible treatments, or even entirely replacing pharmaceuticals that are both expensive and may cause side-effects.

This year, five young researchers in the field of medicine – of which three are from Karolinska Institutet – share SEK 40 million in funding from the Ragnar Söderberg Foundation. The three new Ragnar Söderberg Fellows in Medicine at KI are Magdalena Paolino, Björn Reinus and Carmen Gerlach. Ragnar Söderberg Foundation provides five-year grants to promising young researchers with innovative ideas and proven scientific excellence.  Magdalena Paolino Project: Ubiquitination – how does it affect intestinal stem cells? Magdalena Paolino at the Department of Medicine, Solna studies ubiquitination, which is a process that controls many important processes in the cell. In particular, she is interested in the role of ubiquitination for intestinal stem cells. Her research can help us understand how the constant renewal of the intestinal epithelium works, but also provide more knowledge about the origin of intestinal cancers. Björn Reinius Project: X chromosome inactivation  Björn Reinius at the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology studies the two female sex-chromosomes, the X chromosomes, and how one of them always shuts down in the cells of women. He wants to understand how this works in detail, both in different kinds of tissue and in different cell types. This research can give us more knowledge about the basic processes controlling the activity of our genes, and also help us understand diseases caused by abnormal regulation of the X chromosome. Carmen Gerlach Project: How do the immune system's CD8 T cells acquire their different skills? Carmen Gerlach at the Department of Medicine, Solna explores the immune system and a particular type of immune cells, the CD8 T cells, which are particularly good at protecting us against infections and cancer. She is especially interested in understanding the origin of the variation of such CD8 T cells. This knowledge can then be used to design more effective vaccines and immunotherapies.

An external investigation into the animal experiments conducted by Paolo Macchiarini in the animal facilities of Karolinska University Hospital in Huddinge reveals shortcomings in the control of his group and its way of conducting experiments and complying with ethical permits. The investigation was commissioned in December 2016 by KI’s acting vice-chancellor, Karin Dahlman-Wright and hospital director Melvin Samsom. Investigator Patricia Hedenqvist, docent of laboratory animal medicine at Sweden’s University of Agricultural Sciences confirms the serious consequences this can have for animal welfare. The investigation into Paolo Macchiarini’s animal experiments lists several serious failings in animal handling and poor or missing documentation. “The animal experimentation taken up by the report is objectionable and ethically indefensible,” says Ole Petter Ottersen, vice-chancellor at Karolinska Institutet. “We’re treating its conclusion that there was an abdication of responsibility on several levels extremely seriously and will be following it up in our continuing efforts to raise the quality of our animal experimentation.” Case reopened It was in February 2016 that newly appointed acting vice-chancellor Karin Dahlman-Wright decided to reopen the scientific misconduct case against Paolo Macchiarini, and to have a total of seven scientific papers assessed by the Central Ethical Review Board’s (CEPN) expert group for misconduct. Macchiarini was dismissed the following month. The Central Ethical Review Board’s expert group on scientific misconduct asked expert Professor Eva Ekblad to comment on the article entitled “Experimental orthotopic transplantation of a tissue-engineered oesophagus in rats” published in Nature Communications 2014 (and withdrawn in March 2017). Professor Ekblad noted in her official statement to CEPN that there were several uncertainties concerning Paolo Macchiarini’s animal experimentation as reported on in the article. KI then decided to extend  its investigations into the handling of animals. Investigations commissioned In September 2016, KI requested an investigation into possible failings in animal handling at the animal facility of Karolinska University Hospital where Paolo Macchiarini conducted his experiments. An external investigation was also commissioned in December 2016, the results of which have now been presented by Dr Hedenqvist. A review is already underway of animal facility management and on the influence of researchers on KI’s animal laboratories; the recommendations of Dr Hedenqvist’s report, says Ole Petter Ottersen, will form part of this review: “It is vital that KI maintains the highest quality of animal research and that the rules are obeyed,” he says. “It’s also vital that we adopt an ethical approach and make sure we keep the best possible environments for our animals. This must apply to all animal experimentation, regardless of where our researchers conduct it.” KI and Karolinska University Hospital have made substantial investments in recent years in animal research. “We want KI’s researchers to have access to Europe’s most modern animal laboratories. The investigation into Paolo Macchiarini’s animal experiments highlights the risk of anomalies that must not be allowed to occur, and the investigations we’re now conducting aim to mitigate this risk,” says Ole Petter Ottersen.

Every week, an average of three in every ten adolescent elite athletes suffer an injury. Worst affected are young women, and the risk of injury increases with low self-esteem, especially in combination with less sleep and higher training volume and intensity, a doctoral thesis from Karolinska Institutet shows. Even though thousands of young elite athletes participate in organised sporting events every year, knowledge of injury and its consequences is limited. A thesis by Philip von Rosen, researcher at the Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, can help to address this problem. Some 1,200 young people in Sweden attend a national sports high school, where they combine their regular studies with elite sports in order to attain an international standard in their particular activity. Philip von Rosen’s studies include 680 elite athletes representing 16 different sports at 24 such schools around the country who have completed a series of surveys on injury occurrence and the volume and intensity of their training programmes. 75 per cent were seriously injured over a year “Our studies show that the incidence of injury is high in adolescent elite athletes,” says Mr Philip von Rosen. “During the average week, one in three of them was injured. Over a year, almost all of them had been injured at least once and around 75 per cent reported that they had been seriously injured at least once during the year.” Girls had highest rate of injury and remained injured for longer. To ascertain the possible risk factors behind the injuries, the participants were also asked every term about their self-esteem, nutrient intake and self-rated stress and sleep. The ones who increased the volume and intensity of their training while reducing the duration of their sleep showed a 100 per cent rise in risk of injury. Low self-esteem also increased the risk. An athlete with low self-esteem who increased the volume and intensity of his or her training while cutting back on sleep had three times the risk of injury compared to an athlete with average self-esteem who had not changed his or her training or sleeping habit. Negative psychological consequences In smaller research groups, students also talked about negative psychological consequences of injury, such as guilt, frustration and anger, and how injuries made them consider quitting elite sport altogether. “The high risk of injury in adolescent elite athletes shows that early-intervention injury-prevention strategies are needed in order to avoid long-term consequences of injury and to encourage continuing engagement in sport,” says Mr von Rosen. “We therefore recommend that medical teams are made available for all athletes at every national sports high school to reduce the unhealthy behaviour associated with being injured, to prevent new injuries and to help injured athletes return to sport.” Mr von Rosen will be defending his thesis “Injuries, risk factors, consequences and injury perceptions in adolescent elite athletes” at Karolinska Institutet on 20 October 2017.

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is funding 38 pilot projects to help build tools and technologies for the international collaboration Human Cell Atlas. Two of the projects are based at SciLifeLab (Science for Life Laboratory), including one led by Professor Sten Linnarsson at Karolinska Institutet. The Human Cell Atlas is a global collaboration to map and characterise all cells in the human body, in regard to cell types, numbers, locations, relationships, and molecular components. The atlas aims to provide a three-dimensional map of how cell types work together to form tissues, knowledge of how all body systems are connected, and insights into how changes in the map underlie health and disease. The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, formed by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Dr. Priscilla Chan, has now announced the support of 38 different efforts to build new technologies, best practices, and data analysis techniques for the Human Cell Atlas. Aims to characterise cells in heart, brain and lung The two projects that are based in Sweden are led by Professor Sten Linnarsson at Karolinska Institutet/SciLifeLab and Associate Professor Emma Lundberg at KTH Royal Institute of Technology/SciLifeLab. Sten Linnarsson’s project aims to characterise cell types of heart, brain and lung tissue and develop robust tissue handling protocols. Sten Linnarsson is a part of the initiative’s steering group and is one of the researchers behind development of the techniques which enable the project. Emma Lundberg’s project focuses on pancreas and brain tissue as well as data integration and consistency of analysis results. Other organisations involved in the Human Cell Atlas project are the Wellcome Trust, the European Bioinformatics Institute (EBI), the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, the Broad Institute, the Sanger Institute and UC Santa Cruz, among others.

“As a professor, one is in a unique position to translate new knowledge into care, “ said Vice-Chancellor Ole-Petter Ottersen as he opened Karolinska Institutet’s annual installation ceremony for new professors and recipients of academic awards. Prizewinners, new professors, visiting professors and adjunct professors gathered together on Thursday 12 October in Aula Medica on Karolinska Institutet’s campus in Solna. Many of them had brought along their families and friends to take part in the ceremonial occasion.   KI’s Vice-Chancellor Ole-Petter Ottersen wished everyone a very warm welcome. “You will inspire and lead. At KI we have faced trials and setbacks during the recent crisis has put now it’s time to look ahead,” he said. The ceremony continued with Pro-Vice-Chancellor Karin Dahlman-Wright presenting the recipients of KI’s Grand Silver Medal. Senior Lecturer Tore Curstedt was rewarded for his innovative methods for treating premature babies with breathing difficulties. Professor Emeritus Marc Bygdeman received the medal for among other things having developed safe methods for abortions. “Every year, about 50,000 women die as the result of unsafe abortions. New methods have enormous importance for women’s health,” said Karin Dahlman-Wright. Awards and prizes for significant contributions in research Several awards and prizes were also presented for significant contributions in research and pedagogics. These concerned, among other areas, how DNA damage can lead to cancer and ageing, physical self-perception and technology to make the invisible visible in cell biology. Then followed the official welcoming of adjunct professors and visiting professors and the inauguration of 16 professors. “To be a professor is not a privilege for the few but a position to the benefit of the many. With academic freedom comes responsibility. We are to give patients, families and society at large hope,” said Ole-Petter Ottersen. Films for more personal portraits The new professors were presented in films that also showed the people behind the researcher role. Choir-singing, running, chess, cooking, painting, minimalistic music, reading and a little too few visits to the gym were some of their varied leisure activities. For many of them, there is a linkage between their professional and their private lives. “Chess is like research. It’s strategic and sometimes you have to accept failure and begin again,” said Helle Kieler, professor in Pharmacoepidemiology. Emily Holmes, Professor of Psychology, gave the inauguration speech on behalf the new professors. She presented her research on mental imagery. In one of her experiments, people who had been involved in a traffic accident or traumatic childbirth played a session of Tetris, a visually demanding computer game. This reduced the risk of flash-backs. The ceremony was framed by music; classical music, Swedish folk music and jazz, where singer Viktoria Tolstoy was one of the performers. Lilla akademien’s string ensemble of 16 young violinists were given an extra long round of applause. New professors at KI 2017 Prizes and awards The Grand Silver Medal 2017 was awarded to Marc Bygdeman and Tore Curstedt The Dimitris N. Chorafas prize was awarded to Arvid Guterstam The Erik K Fernström prize was awarded to Óscar Fernandez-Capetillo The Sven and Ebba-Christina Hagberg prize was awarded to Katja Petzold and Simon Elsässer Karolinska Institutet’s pedagogical prize was awarded to Ewa Ehrenborg The Håkan Mogren prize was awarded to Folke Hammarqvist The Malin and Lennart Philipson prize was awarded to Volker Lauschke The Medicine Doktor Axel Hirch prize was awarded to Nils Hansson The Lennart Nilsson Award prize was awarded to Xiaowei Zhuang   Text: Ann Patmalnieks Professor – The highest academic position The installation of professors is an academic ceremony where the university’s new professors are welcomed to the highest academic position. The inauguration has no formal significance, the professors having by this time already signed their employment contracts and been given tenures. The tradition of ceremonially inaugurating professors dates back to the early 1600s. The new professor would normally give an oration, a solemn speech. Music and bell-ringing framed the ceremony. It was for a long time customary for the professor to pay for a banquet for the university’s leaders, something that might put a severe financial burden on a researcher who did not have much money and was already in debt. “Karolinska Institutet’s vice-chancellor of the time decided in 1996 that the ceremony was to take place slightly differently than at other universities,” Master of Ceremonies Ylva Blomberg says. The new professors have since then been presented in films and a popular scientific publication.  Nowadays an inauguration speech is given at the end of the ceremony by one of the new professors, who represents the whole group. The professors lend a hood for the ceremony. “The hood and the hat are the outward symbols of being made a professor but the insignia in actual fact have more significance at doctoral degree conferment ceremonies,” says Ylva Blomberg. Source, in addition to Ylva Blomberg: Lagerkransar & logotyper. Torgny Nevéus

Helena Nordenstedt and Tobias Alfvén have been accepted on the SIGHT Fellows leadership programme by the Swedish Institute for Global Health Transformation (SIGHT). The intention of the programme is to contribute to attain the UN’s global sustainability goals by actively developing leaders across sectoral borders. Helena Nordenstedt and Tobias Alfvén, both from the Department of Public Health Sciences, are two of a total of eight researchers who have been accepted on the SIGHT Fellows leadership programme. The programme includes mentoring by leading global health experts, study visits, lectures, participation in SIGHT’s activities and networks and contributions to individual development. “We believe that the leadership programme will strengthen these ambitious people in their work and also in Sweden’s explicit endeavour to attain the UN’s sustainable development goals (SDGs) where a focus on global health is a crucial factor for both sustainability and greater equality,” says Peter Friberg, who heads SIGHT, in a press release. SIGHT, which was founded in January 2017 at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, was made possible among other things by a donation from Bill and Melinda Gates. The purpose is to, on the basis of interdisciplinary approaches, promote Swedish research and education and offer scientific bases for policy work in the global health field, with a particular focus on women and children.

The National E-infrastructure for Aging Research (NEAR) has been awarded funding from the Swedish Research Council (VR). No later than December 2017 the special terms and conditions for the grants shall be signed. NEAR is a collaboration between six universities: Karolinska Institutet, Blekinge Institute of Technology, Gothenburg University, Jönköping University, Lund University and Umeå University. ARC will be the headquarter of NEAR, led by Professor Laura Fratiglioni, at the Deparmtment of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society. The aim for NEAR is to develop a technical platform for running and coordinating high quality population-based databases in Sweden, to give the researchers access to information in them, and thus to create the prerequisites for future high-quality research.

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have discovered that the protein complex RNase P in the cell’s mitochondria behaves differently than previously thought. The findings, published in Nucleic Acids Research, give important new clues on how certain mutations cause mitochondrial disease. Almost all of the cell’s energy is produced in the cell’s own power plant, the mitochondria. The inability of mitochondria to function properly leads to mitochondrial disease, affecting about one in 4 000 individuals. Genetically related mitochondrial diseases generally arise from errors in the expression of encoded proteins in the mitochondrion’s genome. When the mitochondrial genome is transcribed, long RNA strands are formed. These need to be cut down and processed to release the mature mitochondrial RNAs which are essential for the mitochondrion’s internal protein synthesis. The processing of RNA begins in regions that encode mitochondrial transfer RNAs (tRNAs). Studies of this processing at a molecular level can give important clues about mitochondrial diseases because they are often caused by mutations in tRNA components. Previous research has shown that cutting at the front end (referred to as the 5´-end) and at the rear end (the 3’-end) of the mitochondrial tRNA strand is catalysed by different components. The mitochondrial protein complex RNase P comprise three components (MRPP1, MRPP2, and MRPP3) that cut the 5´-end of the tRNA, whereas a single protein (ELAC2) cuts the 3´-end of the tRNA. Several unexpected findings Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have now found that two of the proteins from the RNase P complex, MRPP1 and MRPP2, surprisingly remain bound to the tRNA even after the initial 5´-processing. Even more surprisingly, these two proteins were also necessary for ELAC2 to cut in the 3´-end of the tRNA. The results explain why mutations in tRNA components that were previously believed to only be important in the initial 5´-processing can also strongly affect 3´-processing and other downstream steps in tRNA maturation. “This novel functionality of MRPP1 and MRPP2 is important when evaluating both the molecular and physiological effects of the mutations found in patients suffering from mitochondrial disease”, says Martin Hällberg, senior researcher at Karolinska Institutet’s Department of Cell and Molecular Biology and the Centre for Structural Systems Biology (CSSB) in Hamburg who led the study. The research was financed by the Swedish Research Council and the Röntgen Ångström Cluster. Publication “The MRPP1/MRPP2 complex is a tRNA-maturation platform in human mitochondria” Linda Reinhard, Sagar Sridhara and B. Martin Hällberg Nucleic Acids Research, online 13 October 2017

COMMENTARY: The prosecutor decided on Thursday to terminate the preliminary investigation into Paolo Macchiarini concerning the transplantation of artificial tracheae and other operations performed at Karolinska University  Hospital, where he had been employed as a surgeon. The preliminary investigation covered five operations on four plaintiffs during the period 2011−2013. “The only comment that KI can and should make on the decision of the Public Prosecution Office is that it has been a complex and painstaking investigation,” says pro-Vice-Chancellor Karin Dahlman-Wright.

"Nyttiggörandepriset" is awarded to researchers funded or recently funded by the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research and who have contributed with excellent research that impacts on society during the last two years. The prize is a personal grant of an amount of 50' to 100' SEK. This year's winner is Agneta Richter-Dahlfors, Professor at the Department of Neuroscience at Karolinska Institutet and Director of the Swedish Medical Nanoscience Center. When analyzing the results from various experiments she has developed new methodologies and technologies and used the resources for patenting, products and companies, in accordance with SSF's goals and guidelines. One of her innovations has enbabled researchers to observe how, when bacteria attach to a surface, they quickly grow into a biofilm. Professors Johan Elf from Uppsala University and Malin Lindstedt from Lund University share the second prize. Johan Elf has developed a microfluid technique to meet the need for fast diagnostics of antimicrobial reistance, especially in urinary track infections. Malin Lindstedt has developed a range of tests called GARD test, for instance "GARDpotency", an integrated testing strategy for skin sensitization to predict how highly allergenic a chemical is. The award ceremony will take place on November 21, 2017 in Stockholm.