KI News

In a collaborative study between the Karolinska Institutet and Nottingham University, Great Britain, researchers have developed and validated a risk prediction model for venous thromboembolism in the first six weeks after delivery (early postpartum). The research was led by postdoc Alysha Abdul Sultan at Keele University, UK and supervised by senior researcher professor Jonas F Ludvigsson at Karolinska Institutet, Sweden. In this study the team tested risk prediction models for venous thromboembolism in 430,000 deliveries in England and 660,000 delivers in Sweden. "For each 10,000 deliveries there were 7-8 cases of venous thromboembolisms in the mother. Among risk factors were emergency caesarean delivery, stillbirth, varicose veins, pre-eclampsia/eclampsia, postpartum infection, and comorbidities," professor Ludvigsson says. The new prediction model of the researchers identifies a larger proportion of thromboembolic events than existing models in both England and Sweden. The lead researcher Abdul Sultan is currently developing a PC-based software for use in the clinical practice to predict venous thromboembolism.  Publication "Development and validation of risk prediction model for venous thromboembolism in postpartum women: multinational cohort study" Alyshah Abdul Sultan, Joe West, Matthew J Grainge, Richard D Riley, Laila J Tata, Olof Stephansson, Kate M Fleming, Catherine Nelson-Piercy, Jonas F Ludvigsson. BMJ, published online 5 December 2016, doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.i6253

What form might collaboration between Karolinska Institutet (KI) and Stockholm County Council (SLL) take? This was one of the questions discussed at a joint kick-off at Nalen in Stockholm the day after the new research bill, with its strong emphasis on interaction, was presented. “60 per cent of our activities are focused on health and medical care already today, but I would like to have a more distinct feeling that we are together, that we are jointly contributing to improve people’s health,” KI’s acting Vice-Chancellor Karin Dahlman-Wright said. More precisely, she was referring to the collaboration agreement between Karolinska Institutet and Stockholm County Council on basic education of doctors, workplace-based education for other health professions and clinical research, and development of health and medical care. The agreement is commonly referred to as ALF. The foundation is the national ALF agreement that has been complemented with regional agreements between concerned county councils and the university. Now some forty representatives from KI and SLL were to discuss how the regional ALF agreement can be filled with human content. The agreement was approved by the County Council Assembly on 15 March this year. University Healthcare a key concept The kick-off was opened by KI’s acting Vice-Chancellor Karin Dahlman-Wright and acting County Council Director Anne Rundquist. Anna Humble, who heads KI’s County Council Collaboration Unit, then told delegates that the national ALF agreement, that came into effect on 1 January 2015, contains quite a few new things compared to its predecessor. “Among other things, the concept of university healthcare has been introduced, since the intention is to not restrict clinical research to a particular building (university hospital) but instead show that there are other places that conduct good research and provide good education outside the major hospitals. A further intention is to evaluate the quality of clinical research to redistribute part of the ALF research funding on the basis of results,” Anna Humble says. She also mentioned that the regional ALF agreement in Stockholm differs from other regional ALF agreements in that Stockholm has chosen to include all education programmes at KI that require the participation of the care sector, in other words programmes that contain workplace-based learning and not only the education of doctors. Topics discussed in groups later in the evening included how the way can be paved for new research to be implemented in health and medical care more quickly, how research can be organised in the new care structure, with a continued focus on national diseases, and how a good foundation can be laid for education in the new care structure. The 4D project as a model Martin Ingvar, KI’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor with responsibility for coordinating issues concerning the healthcare of the future, sees a number of challenges with the new collaboration agreement. “Research in clinical environments demands stable forms of collaboration and both management teams must be focused on the collaboration. Health and medical care must seek its own development and KI has to seek patient benefit. When we do so, we accomplish fantastic things like the 4D project where we absolutely lead the world. When we don’t, we point to the other organisation and blame them. A formal ALF agreement is important in this respect, because we have to consider interaction when we organise our own activities,” he says. The 4D project in particular was mentioned several times as an example of successful collaboration. When the two opening speakers summed up the discussions at the end of the evening, County Council Director Anne Rundquist presented her analysis of the 4D project: “It represents a well-defined project with a strictly imposed framework for the work to be done. It is planned beforehand and has a beginning and an end. It’s quite simply a project – something that lies outside everyday operations. That’s probably been the most significant success factor,” she says. Other important elements that were emphasised were leadership, having trust, humility and respect for different professional roles and – as regards education – better supervisory skills and time to supervise care.   Text: Stina Moritz

Anders Gustafsson, Dean of Research at Karolinska Institutet, is generally satisfied with the government’s new research bill. But the funding is spread over too many initiatives, he says, which means that some programmes risk not getting off the ground. “My overall impression is that most of the ideas are good. I’m also pleased that so much money is being allocated considering other important things that need to be financed at the current time. But the funding is spread over a little too many initiatives that it’s not really enough to finance them all”, Anders Gustafsson reflects up on the government’s new research bill, proposed last week. He gives the new ten-year national research programme, where among other things the antibiotic resistance programme is currently of interest for KI, as an example. This will receive SEK 25 million – 20 million in 2018 and 5 million in 2019 – in the form of increased appropriation to the Swedish Research Council. “The question is if measurable indicators can be found for interaction.” “If it is to be distributed over a number of medical universities, there will be so little money that I wonder if it will really lead us anywhere,” Dean Gustafsson says.  Something that is new in the bill is how this basic funding is to be distributed between the universities. In addition to the two quality indicators used today – publication and citations and external research funding – interaction with the surrounding society is also to be a factor. “The idea is a good one and KI interacts a great deal, first and foremost with the health and medical care sector. But the question is if we can find usable, measurable indicators for interaction,” Anders Gustafsson says. Resource allocation to be reviewed The government plans to appoint a commission to review the system by which resources are allocated to the universities. While awaiting the commission’s findings, the government proposes using Vinnova’s assessments of interaction as the basis for allocating new resources. In 2013, the government commissioned Vinnova to devise a model for putting a value on the universities’ interaction with surrounding society. In December this year, the agency is to present its final report, which the government then intends to circulate for comment. The research bill states that in 2017 Vinnova will be commissioned to evaluate the universities’ interaction, which may come to form a basis for allocating new funding. Biobanks to be prioritised Of the prioritised fields in the bill, Anders Gustafsson is particularly pleased to see more funding going to biobanks and register research. A total of SEK 50 million is to be allocated up to 2020 in the form of increased appropriations to the Swedish Research Council. “It’s an important field for KI and the funding will be sufficient to really make a difference,” he says. He also welcomes the extension of postdoctoral research fellowships from four years to six, which was mentioned by Helene Hellmark Knutsson, Minister for Higher Education and Research, when the research bill was presented. Text: Sara Nilsson

When Johan von Schreeb, researcher and specialist in disaster medicine, travelled to Erbil outside Mosul in northern Iraq, it was to put his research into practice and save lives. “I wouldn’t feel happy with myself if, as a scientist, I wasn’t out there where it matters making use of my expertise,” he says. Johan von Schreeb, who leads the Centre for Research on Health Care in Disasters at Karolinska Institutet, received a call – he was needed by the World Health Organisation for a new job and was to go to Mosul in northern Iraq. – A million people are trapped in Mosul under IS rule, he says. Since the battles to retake the city from IS have escalated, increasing numbers of people have been injured and suicide bombers in the area are making it extremely difficult to get them to hospitals in the neighbouring city of Erbil. Johan von Schreeb travelled to Iraq with trauma surgeon Louis Riddez from Karolinska University Hospital, whose role it was to update the Iraqi surgeons’ knowledge of trauma surgery. Johan von Schreeb’s job was to coordinate domestic healthcare so that it would have the capacity to take care of the injured. – I use my research and experience on the health impact of disasters and put the results of my research to practical use, he says.  Since no two conflicts or disasters are the same, medical workers like Johan Von Schreeb have to gain first-hand knowledge of the situation before drawing up a plan of action. On this occasion, it was obvious to him that the greatest obstacles were the long transportation times for the injured and security problems caused by suicide bombers. The fear that the injured people themselves could have bombs strapped to their bodies is one reason why emergency transit was so slow. Johan von Schreeb’s work for the WHO also includes drawing up guidelines on how to make disaster intervention more evidence based. He recently submitted a report to the organisation on what the trauma plan for Mosul should look like. He is also trying to mobilise more international teams. – After the earthquake in Nepal, 150 medical teams rushed to the area, he says. It was far too many. But that doesn’t happen during armed conflicts, even though there’s a desperate need for help and a never-ending stream of injured people. It’s very hard for the rest of the world to do anything as the aid organisations consider the situation dangerous. We had the same mobilisation problem at the start of the Ebola epidemic. However, security in Erbil is good, so more medical teams should be able to go there. Alongside the WHO, field hospitals have also been set up by Doctors without Borders and the International Red Cross. But the need for help is constantly growing.   – There are five bridges in Mosul, four of which have been blown up, he says. If the last one goes, it’ll be hard for people to get to hospital. It’s a terrible situation here. Snipers are shooting children. He is now trying to persuade more aid organisations to set up field hospitals in the area. KI continues to supply experienced surgeons, such as trauma surgeon Gona Jafaar, who is out there at the moment.  Johan von Schreeb has been on many assignments to earthquakes and other natural disasters as well as to conflict zones. The real-life experiences he gleans from these missions he incorporates into his research.  “Research can’t just be about publishing in journals,” he says. “It’s also got to be about putting the knowledge you generate to use and helping to build a better world.”  Text: Maja Lundbäck  

Seven young researchers connected to Karolinska Institutet have been appointed Wallenberg Academy Fellows 2016. The purpose of this program, funded by the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, is to boost Sweden as a research nation by retaining the greatest research talents in the country and by recruiting young international researchers to Swedish universities. In all, 29 new Wallenberg Academy Fellows have been appointed this year, of which more than half have a foreign doctorate degree. The appointment process is conducted in collaboration with the Swedish universities and science academies, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in particular, in the areas of natural sciences; social sciences, engineering and technology; humanities; and medicine. Funding is SEK 5 – 9 million per researcher for five years depending on the subject area. These are the seven Wallenberg Academy Fellows at KI: Laura Baranello Topoisomerases are important cellular enzymes; they are involved in processes in which genes are copied, or when DNA is replicated prior to cell division. They unwind the DNA double helix, so that the enzymes that are going to transcribe genes or replicate DNA strands are able to do so. To stop the uncontrolled growth of cancer cells, it is now common to use pharmaceuticals that inhibit the topoisomerases’ activity. Cells are unable to divide if the DNA cannot be copied, which kills cancer cells. Unfortunately, these powerful drugs also affect other cells in the body that divide frequently, such as red and white blood cells. Dr. Laura Baranello at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, USA, has studied topoisomerases in detail and made the ground-breaking discovery that their activity is stimulated by other enzymes in the cell. She will now continue to study the mechanism of regulation of topoisomerases, with the aim of developing topoisomerase inhibitors that selectively affect cancer cells. As a Wallenberg Academy Fellow, Laura Baranello will work at Karolinska Institutet’s Department of Cell and Molecular Biology. Olaf Bergmann Around 250,000 people in Sweden suffer from heart failure. This means that the heart has become so damaged that it no longer has the strength to pump enough blood around the body. It is possible to perform a heart transplant if the person is otherwise healthy, but many people who have heart failure die in a few years. Dr. Olaf Bergmann at Karolinska Institutet’s Department of Cell and Molecular Biology aims to get damaged hearts to heal themselves. Previously, researchers thought that the heart only forms new cells during the fetal stage and childhood but, in 2009, Olaf Bergmann demonstrated, to many people’s surprise, that heart muscle cells are renewed throughout life.  He used a unique method for determining the age of the cells in an adult heart, utilizing the fact that nuclear weapons’ tests have changed the levels of carbon-14 in the atmosphere. As a Wallenberg Academy Fellow, Olaf Bergmann will continue to employ the latest technology in investigating the molecular mechanisms that stimulate cell growth in our hearts. The aim is to be able to control the process and encourage failing hearts to form healthy new cells. Niklas Björkström Researchers had long thought that the natural killer cells, NK cells, found in the body’s various organs all had the same properties, but it has recently become clear that they are a mixed bag of cells that may even have different origins.  As a doctoral student, Dr. Niklas Björkström studied the blood’s NK cells. In the project he is currently running at Karolinska Institutet’s Center for Infectious Medicine, he is investigating the NK cells found in the liver. As a Wallenberg Academy Fellow he will find out how they develop, how their activity is regulated and the role they play in steatohepatitis, a chronic liver disease in which the liver is fatty and inflamed, and during the development of tumors.  Niklas Björkström will also map the development of inflammation and cancer in the bile ducts. In order to study the immune cells of the bile ducts, which are deep in the body, he has developed a sensitive analysis technique that only requires a few thousand cells from his patients. More detailed knowledge of what governs inflammation in the liver and the bile ducts is necessary to be able to develop treatments for a number of fatal diseases. Claudia Kutter There are many known risk factors for liver cancer, particularly chronic virus infections (hepatitis B and C), alcoholism and obesity. It is now the sixth most common form of cancer worldwide and the number of cases is increasing rapidly as a consequence of harmful lifestyle and environmental factors, among other things.  To better understand how liver cancer develops, Dr. Claudia Kutter, University of Cambridge, UK, will make detailed studies of the intricate mechanisms governing which genes in a cell are activated. People carry around 1500 proteins that form complexes with RNA molecules and regulate gene activity. Claudia Kutter will use the latest technology to map the interaction between RNA-binding proteins and RNA molecules, and how this affects gene expression in healthy and diseased cells. Given that this disease is one of the deadliest forms of cancer, the project’s long-term aim is to find new pharmaceutical targets. As a Wallenberg Academy Fellow, Claudia Kutter will work at Karolinska Institutet’s Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology. She is also a faculty member of SciLifeLab.   Fredrik Lanner Embryonic stem cells are unique because they can form all the different cells in the human body. Dr. Fredrik Lanner at Karolinska Institutet’s Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology is making basic studies of how the development of embryonic stem cells is governed in the early stages of the embryo. As a Wallenberg Academy Fellow, he will also investigate whether retinal cells produced from embryonic stem cells can be used to treat macular degeneration, an eye disease that affects nearly one in five people over the age of 65. In his previous research, Fredrik Lanner developed well-functioning retinal cells, but to be able to use them in studies involving people, the stem cell lines must be produced in ultra-clean cell culture rooms in accordance with standards for pharmaceutical production.  Fredrik Lanner has initiated the KI Stem Cell Bank in order to produce clean stem cells. The aim is to collect at least 150 different cell lines that match patients with differing HLA. If the HLA type in the transplanted cells matches the patient’s own, it reduces the risk of the immune system rejecting the transplanted cells. In the future, the stem cells in the KI Stem Cell Bank may be used to develop all the types of cells in the body. Sidinh Luc Our red and white blood cells are continually renewed. Stem cells in the bone marrow divide and, based on these, all the specialized cells found in our blood are formed: monocytes, macrophages, neutrophils, basophils, eosinophils, erythrocytes, dendritic cells, T cells, B cells and NK cells. To better understand this basic process in our bodies, Dr. Sidinh Luc from the Dana-Farber/Boston Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders Center, USA, will, among other things, isolate different types of blood stem cells and mark them using gene-technology tools. This mark will then reveal which specialized blood cells originate from which stem cell. Sidinh Luc will also investigate how epigenetic differences govern the development of different blood stem cells and how levels of various stem cells in the bone marrow change throughout life. The hope is that more detailed knowledge of blood formation will increase understanding of how different forms of blood cancer develop and how they can be treated.  As a Wallenberg Academy Fellow, Sidinh Luc will move her work to Center for Hematology and Regenerative Medicine at Karolinska Institutet. Vicente Pelechano García Bet-hedging is a term used by evolutionary biologists to describe the ability of microorganisms to adapt to unpredictable surroundings, where genetically equivalent organisms can develop different characteristics. For example, in a bacterial infection, some of the bacteria may develop resistance to a particular antibiotic, despite genetic analysis showing that they should be responsive to it. Researchers have also recently shown that similar processes can explain some cancer cells’ resistance to chemotherapy. Dr. Vicente Pelechano García, Karolinska Institutet, will study what allows cells to react differently to a particular pharmaceutical. As a Wallenberg Academy Fellow, he will investigate subtle differences in the packaging of the long strands of DNA and how this affects the expression of various genes. Differences in gene expression may also occur when a gene is copied to messenger RNA, which in turn affects the shape of the protein that is formed from the gene.  A better understanding of these fundamental processes in the cell is necessary for researchers to be able to develop treatments that are effective against all cancer cells and microorganisms – even those that are most resilient. Research presentations: The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Photo credit: Markus Marcetic

KI researcher Sara Riggare is acknowledged to be Top ten most important persons in life science in Sweden today.  She is awarded in the category “Resource of the year”. Sara Riggare is researcher at the Health Informatic Centre at the Department of Learning, Informatics, Management and Ethics, where she is doing research at Parkinson’s disease and different aspects of patient self-tracking and quantified self. Sha is a member in the national expert group in life science and has been awarded one of top ten most important in medtech area.

The government research policy bill was presented on Monday at Scilifelab in Solna. It contains investments in many of KI’s strength fields, such as life science and registry research, as well as a greater focus on the universities’ interaction with surrounding society. Helene Hellmark Knutsson, minister for higher education and research, presented the government’s research bill, which outlines its views on research policy. The government intends to gradually increase its annual appropriations for research and innovation to SEK 2.8 billion until the year 2020 as previously announced. This will, it has now been specified, entail an increase of the basic appropriations (the money the government grants direct to the higher education institutions) of SEK 1.3 billion over the coming three years. “The aim is to improve the quality of the research and, rather than increasing the number of researchers, to create more research opportunities for them and a stronger career structure,” says Ms Hellmark Knutsson. New resource-allocation principle The government is also introducing a new resource-allocation principle for the HEIs. As well as the current two quality indicators – publications/citations and external grants – account will be taken of outreach activities. – I think it’s excellent that outreach is to be factored in, says Karin Dahlman-Wright, acting vice-chancellor at KI. We at KI have also been discussing this in relation to how we allocate resources and build our incentive structures. Higher basic appropriations are good, it’s what we’ve been wanting, but then we’ll have to see how the money is divided up. The government has now appointed a taskforce to look into a new control and resource-allocation system for HEIs. The inquiry will cover both education and research and how outreach activities can be rewarded financially. It is hoped that a new system will in place by the 2020 budget. The research policy bill focuses especially on investments for the 2017–2020 period but also adopts a ten-year perspective in which priority will be given to research on the three major societal challenges of climate, health and life science and to increased digitalisation. – KI has a vital part to play in this respect,” says Dahlman-Wright. “Health and life science are our primary areas, but we’re also active in digitalisation and the environment. I believe that the bill represents a lasting commitment to Sweden’s status as a major knowledge and research nation. I applaud the signal it gives that success comes through building quality and that there are no shortcuts.” Six new ten-year research programmes The bill also launches six new ten-year national research programmes, including antibiotic resistance, climate and working life research, into which a total of SEK 420 million will be injected up to 2020. – The government research financiers will identify the needs that exist in these areas and announce competitive calls for application in order to build up strong, sustainable research environments, says Ms Hellmark Knutsson. She also announced that the Swedish Higher Education Authority (UKÄ), which currently has responsibility for the quality evaluation of higher education, will also oversee the quality evaluation of research. Improved conditions for junior researchers are another priority. One of the intentions of the higher basic appropriations is to create more career development positions in order to strengthen the HEIs’ competitiveness and quality. ”A clearer career path” – There should be fewer temporary positions and a clearer career path, says Ms Hellmark Knutsson. The career development positions are to be filled more through competitive processes nationally and, when appropriate, internationally. We’ll also make sure that there’s a more unified, nationally regulated career structure. The government believes that more needs to be done to make it easier for young researchers to gain qualifications and experience. The report of the research career commission has passed through the consultation stage and the issue is now being now been dealt with by the government offices. In advance of the bill, KI argued that the career development position of research associate should be extended from four to six years. When presenting the bill, Ms Hellmark Knutsson asserted that 4–6 years will be possible. The bill also proposes to abolish doctoral grants in the hope that more doctoral students will then be employed and thus obtain better social protection. More female professors The government also wants to see a more rapid growth in the relative number of female professors, and is introducing for the first time a national target to supersede the HEIs’ own: half of newly recruited professors are to be women by the year 2030. The previous government’s investments in strategic research areas will continue, as KI has wanted. Biobanks and registry research will also be reinforced, as formerly announced, in the form of an increased appropriation to the Swedish Research Council – SEK 30 million in 2018 and another 10 million per year in 2019 and 2020. Clinical research will also be bolstered, partly through an increase in the Swedish Research Council’s financing of clinical therapy research and partly through an initiative that will help to develop thematic research and innovation collaborations among the healthcare, academic and private sectors. Investments in biopharmaceuticals The government is also investing SEK 90 million in biopharmaceuticals with GE Health Care through an increase in Vinnova’s research appropriation under the life science collaboration programme. To enhance the accessibility and utilisation of national research infrastructure, such as Scilifelab, the Swedish Research Council’s appropriation will be raised by SEK 40 million in 2017 and 2018. The government sees SciLifeLab as a vital national resource and a central infrastructural pillar for several important strategic research areas. – By virtue of its size, KI has to take considerable responsibility for medical infrastructure and this requires additional resources, adds Karin Dahlman-Wright. Generally speaking, the bill addresses many issues that we’re already working very hard on, such as career paths and equality.   Text: Sara Nilsson

Alexander von Gabain, The Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Innovation and Commercial outreach at Karolinska Institutet, has been awarded “Collaborator of the year” by the magazine Life Science Sweden. The Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Innovation and Commercial outreach at Karolinska Institutet, Professor Alexander von Gabain, is acknowledged to be Top ten most important persons in life science in Sweden today.  He is awarded in the category “Collaborator of the year”. – This is a great acknowledgement for KI: s efforts to strengthen innovation output and innovation partnerships, besides being a leading academic institution in education and research, says Alexander von Gabain. The last year, KI has also signed several strategic partnership with industrial partners and done a specific day focusing on innovation and entrepreneurship for all KI students. By continuing to collaborate with academia, industry and healthcare, Alexander von Gabain hopes to help that more ideas will be translated into innovations, to benefit patient and society. 

Depression is the predominant mental disease and constitutes the most common cause of morbidity in developed countries. Now researchers at Karolinska Institutet have managed to find a connection between development of depression and the existence of an enzyme in the brain of the fetus. Despite the fact that more than four percent of the world’s population suffer from depression, and even though approximately 1,500 individuals commit suicide each year in Sweden, the understanding of the pathophysiology of depression remains unclear and only a few new discoveries of mechanisms behind it have been made in recent years. New approved pharmacological interventions are mainly absent, despite intensive research on the subject. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have characterized the role of the enzyme CYP2C19 in depression and functional and morphological changes in the brain. The enzyme is responsible for the metabolism of many neuroactive compounds, including antidepressants, and is located in the fetal brain and adult liver. "We previously found that the CYP2C19 gene is expressed not only in the liver, but also in fetal brain. We described that transgenic mice that overexpress the human CYP2C19 in fetal life, in adult life have smaller hippocampus as well as an altered composition of nerve cells in the hippocampus and suffer from a higher level of anxiety- and depression-like behavior as compared to the wild type mice", says Magnus Ingelman-Sundberg, who has been leader of the study together with Marin Jukic. Altered structure and function of the hippocampus was the starting point The hippocampus is a central part of the brain for control of emotions and stress, and the finding of altered structure and function of the hippocampus following overexpression of CYP2C19 was in the starting point for the new study. The researchers now have examined to what extent these findings in mice can be extrapolated to humans. Such analysis was facilitated by the fact that four percent of the population lacks the CYP2C19 enzyme, while thirty percent have increased expression of the same enzyme. By analysis of MRI-based measurements of the hippocampal volume and by analyzing epidemiological statistics for suicide as well as by evaluating tests of depressive mood from thousands of people, researchers found that the absence of the enzyme was associated with a larger volume of the hippocampus. "These persons showed a lesser degree of depressed mode. Conversely, we found that increased activity of CYP2C19 was associated with higher suicidal incidences in depressed patients", Marin Jukic says. The results, presented in the international publication Molechylar Psychiatry, show that the propensity for depression and hippocampal function in part is programmed in fetal life. Fetuses lacking CYP2C19 enzyme have a lower risk of depression and have larger hippocampi in adulthood. "These findings form the basis for the identification of new biomarkers for depressive phenotypes and strengthen the fact that our CYP2C19 depression mice model can be used to understand new mechanisms for the basis of depression and for preclinical screening of new drug candidates for anti-depressant effect, in particular for those that affect the serotonergic neurotransmission", Magnus Ingelman-Sundberg concludes. Publication  "Elevated CYP2C19 expression is associated with depressive symptoms and hippocampal homeostasis impairment" M M Jukić, N Opel, J Ström, T Carrillo-Roa, S Miksys, M Novalen, A Renblom, S C Sim, E M Peñas-Lledó, P Courtet, A Llerena, B T Baune, D J de Quervain, A Papassotiropoulos, R F Tyndale, E B Binder, U Dannlowski, M Ingelman-Sundberg Molecular Psychiatry, published online 29 November 2016, doi: 10.1038/mp.2016.204

Professor Emeritus Folke Sjöqvist and newly appointed Professor Nagihan Bostanci followed different paths to Karolinska Institutet. One became a professor within a brand new research field and the other changed countries when she was appointed professor at Karolinska Institutet. Professor emeritus Folke Sjöqvist built up the Department of Clinical Pharmacology from scratch. He feels that KI should return to having a single subject representative. When Folke Sjöqvist was appointed professor, KI was still run in such a way that people spoke about “one professor – one building”. – I didn’t have a building but I did have an entire floor at Huddinge. And there was no doubt about who had responsibility for clinical pharmacology. It was in the wake of the Thalidomide scandal that it was decided to create a professorship in clinical pharmacology at Karolinska Institutet. Folke Sjöqvist was already an expert and committed to the subject. It was obvious that drugs and their side-effects were not being sufficiently investigated, he says. – Side-effects occurred from for example psychopharmacological drugs. You could suffer a cerebral haemorrhage from eating cheese that contained tyramine while taking MAO inhibitors against depression, Folke Sjöqvist tells us when we meet him at home. Following his doctoral studies at the Department of Clinical Pharmacology at KI, Folke Sjöqvist PhD continued at what he calls “biochemical pharmacology’s Mecca”, the National Institute of Health in Bethesda. On returning to Sweden, a substantial American grant allowed him to set up a unit for clinical research in pharmacology at KI. When the first professorship was announced at Linköping in 1970, he applied for and was awarded the position. A mere two years latter he was appointed professor at KI. At Linköping he had built up the first academic department of clinical pharmacology. Now he would do the same thing at KI. – I built everything up from scratch. I’d spent two years in the USA and had lots of ideas that I wanted to test here in Sweden where we had better-organised healthcare. – The research concerned drug metabolism with an emphasis on variations between individuals in how drugs are broken down. Together with the Psychiatric Clinic at KS we investigated how the same dosage for different people gave different concentrations in the bloodstream. This was a breakthrough in pharmacogenetics that then permeated all the department’s research. As professor he saw himself mainly as a representative of KI and then of his field and his department, and only thirdly of himself as a researcher. – My cardinal rule was to devote two thirds of my time to teaching and research and the remaining third to the clinic. It was also important to stay up to date on the administrative side, to be actively involved in the Professors' Collegium and KI’s decision-making bodies.  Teaching has always been close to his heart. – I am very critical of those who neglect their teaching and a strong opponent of avoiding basic training courses. To be able to recruit people to research education, you have to be involved already at that stage. Today he has handed over the research to his successors. But he remains active in various networks, not least on the international front. – The experience that professors emeritus have is not exploited well enough at KI. Foreign universities are much better at it, he says. Folke Sjöqvist follows everything that happens at KI very closely and has some things to say about its present structures. He would like KI to reintroduce subject representatives and is sceptical to some subjects being spread over several departments. – You have to know who is responsible for a subject. It’s not a good idea to divide it into research teams; that paves the way for egocentrism and insufficent interest in the whole. Subject representatives need to be appointed and they must be professors. A team leader who switched countries Newly inaugurated professor Nagihan Bostanci sees herself as a team leader whose aim is to improve dental health and thereby help everyone feel better. She didn’t hesitate to switch countries and come to work at Karolinska Institutet.  Nagihan Bostanci reacted speedily when she saw the advertisement for the position of Professor of Inflammation Research specialising in Periodontics. – Oh my god, periodontics never stops fascinating me. They were looking for someone who was willing to build bridges between research and clinical practice. The description of the position fitted everything I had done and wanted to do, my history and my future, Nagihan Bostanci says. The fact that the position was at KI was important to her. – KI is one of the most research-oriented universities in Europe and internationally its dentist education is among the top three. KI also has a structure of intra-disciplinary collaboration and I want to work like that. I can work and grow as a person at KI. It wasn’t difficult to say yes. Nagihan Bostanci took her doctoral degree in periodontics at the University of London and holds a degree in dentistry from Ege University in Turkey.  Her last post before coming to KU was as Principal Investigator at The Center of Dental Medicine of the University of Zürich in Switzerland. During her time there she was appointed Associate Professor of Periodontics and led her own research team.  Last summer she moved from Zürich to Stockholm. At the same time a poisition was advertised that suited her husband Georgios Belibasakis, who also works at the Department of Dental Medicine. Nagihan Bostanci will be further developing the research she worked with previously on how gum inflammation occurs and progresses.  – Unfortunately it’s a silent inflammation that does not cause the patient any problems until the tooth has come loose. We’re trying to solve how this can be detected earlier. At the moment we’re looking at what saliva and the bacteria and proteins it contains can tell us. Because saliva can act as a “mirror” of our bodies, research can also give knowledge about systemic diseases. In her role as professor, she will also be involved in education. She will teach doctoral students in their third year who are writing their theses. – I guide them to the research, that might be laboratory- or register-based or build on clinical studies. It provides good opportunities for collaboration with my colleagues in clinical practice. As a professor you have to both move the research forward and disseminate the knowledge to education, she feels. Another part of her work is the administrative duties, such as for example acting as course coordinator, applying for research funding and sitting on boards and project committees. – It is important to be involved in education and strategic research thrusts. Nagihan Bostanci emphasises that it is important to have colleagues, teams and structures that provide support. – You need complementary expertise. You can’t be good at everything. I can be a bridge. Leadership today is to a great extent a matter of communication skills. Would she, then, be able to attain her goals without holding a professorship? Nagihan Bostanci answers: – The professor has the highest rank. It’s part of one’s development process. When you get that far, you’ve come part of the way to attaining your goal. But at the same time you have greater responsibility to set an example and be a point of reference for others and to be that you have to work hard. The title is a recognition of what you have done but also a reminder of your commitment to your branch of science. Text: Ann Patmalnieks First published in KI Bladet 5, 2016  

Opinions have varied on how many professors Karolinska Institutet is to have. The first change took place in 1993, when over a hundred “kingdoms” were abolished. Throughout its history KI has swung between expansion and attempts to concentrate its activities, says Daniel Normark, historian at the Unit for Medical History and Heritage at KI. Today there is a log-term endeavour to reduce the number of professors. And it’s not the first time. The most far-reaching organisational change was made in 1993, when 145 departments were reduced to 35. – 100 kingdoms, as the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the time, Erling Norrby, called them, were abolished. Of course it wasn’t popular with everyone, but connected to the change was a promise that the environment ay KI would be substantially refurbished, Daniel Normark says. KI had one of the oldest laboratory environments in the country and was now given 1.4 billion by the state. It would now be possible, among other things, to build the Scheele and Retzius laboratories and renovate some others. – The plan was to become more of a research institution and teaching responsibility was toned down. KI would concentrate on having the best professors.  Reforms regarding titles One of the reasons for the marked increase that had taken place in the number of professors was certain reforms as regards titles. But it was also because people at KI were very good at claiming new territories. It wasn’t always the state that paid; funding could be found elsewhere. The change in 1993 was about concentrating on cutting-edge competence rather than breadth. It was partly achieved by means of departures and retirements but also by merging departments. – When funds were later freed up, it would not automatically lead to the appointment of another professor. The money would be used where it would give the most benefit. What was most promising from the point of view of research? Previously when a professor had retired, a new researcher had been appointed in the same field. The Vice-Chancellor of the time, Bengt Samuelsson, was the one who pushed the reduction in the number of professors. – He thought the organisation had begun to sprawl too much. He felt that having to constantly appoint new professors in old fields put a strain on the organisation and wanted to “move with the “landscape”. Towards greater breadth Only five years later, the pendulum swung again when KI merged with Hälsohögskolan in Stockholm in 1998 and the thrust turned once again towards greater breadth. The education budget was doubled.  – If you want to teach you need to have knowledge in all fields. The number of professors increased once more, wich was not only a result of the focus on education. There were also many self-made researchers who arranged their own funding, published papers and made themselves indispensable.    Professor's role changed over time The professor’s role has changed over the years, says Daniel Normark. The professor could be the hub in his area of knowledge, and hold various positions of authority and parallel appointments. A professor could sometimes be bigger than KI itself, be more prominent, and have his or her own contact networks around the world. Others have had a more administrative role.  – Some trained as doctors, conducted research and made names for themselves. When they were later appointed professors, they mainly devoted themselves to managing the research, maintaining an overview and teaching doctors to be.  Ideals have also changed when it comes to KI’s buildings. In the 1800s the departments were spread all over Stockholm but were brought together in the early 1900s. – KI was adamant about the principle of one professor, one subject, one building. During the second world war, one particular study proposed a different kind of development where as much space as possible should be shared. This had no effect on the number of profess, however. The buildings grew organically. A new wing might be added for a new professor.   Text: Ann Patmalnieks

Since 2011 universities and institutions of higher education in Sweden have had greater freedom to decide themselves on the appointment of a professor. Karolinska Institutet has chosen to expose professorships to competition and has abolished the right to be promoted. – We want to attract the best and be transparent in our processes. In that respect it is important to give everyone the opportunity to apply, says Peter Gustafsson, Head of the HR Department’s Competence Provision Unit. He also emphasises that, in line with the Strategy 2018 strategy document, that KI is to foster external recruitment. – It’s important, but at the same time we mustn’t forget the recruitment of internal candidates. We have a pool of highly skilled doctors and researchers, Peter Gustafsson points out. The appointment of professors is initiated by the Heads of Department. When a department is looking for a professor, they study what needs there are.  You don’t need to be a professor to do high-level research, Peter Gustafsson points out.  – There are people who are not professors who are successful when it comes to attracting funding. But to get highly qualified people who can raise the status of a subject, we may need to announce a professorship. The team is also working on designing a new recruitment strategy for KI to be presented next year. Birgitta Henriques Normark is Vice-Dean for Recruitment and leads the team. – Our discussions concern recruitment of professors and senior lecturers, but also take up the career structure for younger researchers and teachers, and the composition of the recruitment committee. Financing of the professors is also discussed along with the problems that arise from the present lack of sufficient resources to fully finance KI’s professors, says Birgitta Henriques Normark. Despite the fact that Strategy 2018 states that KI is to endeavour to reduce the number of professors, the number of advertisements for professors’ positions tripled in 2015 compared to the previous year. And no downward trend can be seen for 2016. – We have a large number of professors who will be retiring over the next five years and this needs to be handled. According to Strategy 2018, not all of them will need to be replaced. But the recruitment committee today has neither the overview nor the commission to limit the total number of professors. Peter Gustafsson believes there may also be other ways to go. – A professor must have resources and a certain degree of foreseeability is needed when it comes to money. If the number of professors increases and KI decided that they are to be fully financed, more resources will be needed.  Nor has KI attained the government’s stated goal of employing 47 percent women professors.  But the number of women professors recruited has nonetheless increased in both 2015 and 2016. The recruitment committee have been trained in equal recruitment and looked at how the entire process is carried out. In Peter Gustafsson’s view, the reasearch career should be reviewed in its entirety to get a bigger picture. – How do you for example take parental leave and how does this affect your career? he asks. Text: Ann Patmalnieks Recruitment step by step A new procedure was recently introduced in conjunction with employment: references and qualification checks. Who can be a professor? Appointments at KI are to be subjected to competition; both internal and external applicants are welcome. People are no longer entitled to be promoted to professor if they meet certain requirements, as was the case between 1999 and 2010.  But on the other hand, a researcher may receive an invitation, that is to say be headhunted to for a professor’s position.  How are scientific and teaching skills assessed?  Research competence is assessed in several different ways at KI, with an emphasis on different areas on the basis of the position in question. It might be a matter of having published papers in journals that have a high impact, having supervised doctoral and post-doc students, and having received grants and funding. A qualification of significance might be the ability to demonstrate an independent line of research.  Teaching skills are assessed on the basis of responsibility for courses and if the applicant has developed courses, and if he or she has completed teaching education at university level. There are also other bases for assessment. If it is a joint appointment where the professor also has a clinical position at for example Karolinska University Hospital, clinical skills are important.   Leadership experience and skills when it comes to development and collaboration are also valued highly. Having led large teams and having been responsible for different activities are also qualifications. The bases for assessment are weighted and it is decided what qualifications are important for the particular appointment in question.   How is applicants’ expertise examined? Two or three subject experts are selected, normally professors from other universities. Then they write individual expert opinions on the basis of the guidelines in the announcement. Previously individual applicants were ranked. Now a “leading group” consisting of the two to three leading candidates who display the most skill is put forward. It is then the task of the recruitment committee together with the Head of Department to decide which applicants to interview. How are interviews conducted?  Interviews are held by the recruitment committee. The recruitment committee consists of the Heads of Department, seven of KI’s professors, student and doctoral student representatives, and a union representative who is allowed to attend the interview but does not have a vote. After the interviews, one of the applicants is proposed for appointment. The final decision is made by the Vice-Chancellor. Before that can take place, references are collected and the candidate’s CV is checked, which was not previously a matter of course. The change was already being planned before the Macchiarini affair, but was introduced more quickly when it became clear that he had not been truthful about his qualifications.  What happens next? A person appointed to a professorship at KI has a high degree of autonomy and can personally formulate the thrust of the research. But he or she also has an explicit commission to manage the education in the field in question. Some professors are very involved in teaching at times, others more seldom. Sometimes a new professor is given a resource package to begin with, which may come from different centre management teams or the Board of Research. Sometimes donations are received. Research is largely funded from outside. It works in different ways from department to department. A person who applied for a position but was not appointed and considers that the wrong person was appointed can appel to the Board of Appeal for Higher Education. The Swedish Higher Education Authority (UKÄ) can review how a matter has been handled but unlike the Board of Appeal cannot change a decision.   First published in KI Bladet, 5/2016    Further reading: Professors in history – ideals are a-changing Opinions have varied on how many professors Karolinska Institutet is to have. The first change took place in 1993, when over a hundred “kingdoms” were abolished, says historian Daniel Normark.   Professors who followed different paths Professor Emeritus Folke Sjöqvist and newly appointed Professor Nagihan Bostanci followed different paths to Karolinska Institutet. One became a professor within a brand new research field and the other changed countries when she was appointed professor at Karolinska Institutet.

On Friday 18 November Innovation Day for students was organised for the first time at KI. The initiative took place at several higher education institutions across Europe within the framework of the EU project EIT Health with the aim of encouraging students to think innovatively and seek creative solutions which can develop health care.  During the morning lectures were held and preparations took place for the afternoon’s major exercise on applying the innovation model “Design Thinking.” “We want to inspire the students and show that their ideas are meaningful and that there are ways of attaining them,” says Cecilie Hilmer, project manager in bioentrepreneurship and manager of the workshop in “Design Thinking.” One of the challenges during the workshop was to develop an innovative solution which can help allergy patients to adapt their life to their allergy. At the end of the day the students had the opportunity to present their ideas in the form of a video which was published on social media. “I think that everything is possible if you have an idea. You might need a lot of help on the way, but in the end you can achieve your goal,” says Eveline Shevin, student of biomedicine and one of the participants of the day’s workshop. Paul Drescher, master student at the Department of Microbiology, Tumor and Cell Biology was also one of the participants. “Initially I was sceptical of it all, but what we did today actually works, and I might even use some of these tools in the future.” After the students presented their ideas, the day ended with well-deserved innovation drinks and Anneliese Lilienthal, who served as project coordinator of the initiative, felt satisfied. “I hope that the students return home from this day and feel that innovation is something which they can identify with, take with them and apply in their future work.”                                            Text, film: Susanna Forsell Photo: Gunnar Ask

  A research team lead by Karolinska Institutet have synthesized a new compound that is set to shine a light on the clandestine life of infectious bacteria. The study is presented in NPJ Biofilms and Microbiomes. Bacterial infections are especially resilient to treatment when individual bacteria group together and form what is known as a biofilm. Biofilm formation can now be studied as it happens using chemicals that fluoresce at different wavelengths as their conformation changes. Understanding of the dynamics of biofilm formation was previously hindered by the lack of suitable research tools. Until now there were no methods specific for detecting biofilm. Today, researchers can use microscopes to see individual bacteria but not the extracellular slime. The dyes currently used bind non-specifically to charged molecules, including bacterial protein and DNA which quickly leads to cell death. The molecular chameleons that have been developed in the current study provide an optical fingerprint, depending on what they bind to. A portion of the molecule has the ability to emit light, while the second portion can bind specifically to a target molecule, in this case the biofilm. When bound to the bacterial extracellular slime, the molecular chameleons changes colour. “The molecules we have developed are unique in that they can send out different colors, depending on how they twist and bend. We usually call them molecular chameleons, because they change color according to the environment,” says Professor Peter Nilsson, Linköping University, whose research team synthesised the tracking molecules. Researchers now have a new tool “This is the first method that specifically dyes the biofilm components. This means that researchers who want to study the mechanisms behind how bacteria form biofilms now have a new tool to understand the process,” says Professor Agneta Richter-Dahlfors at Karolinska Institutet, who led the study. In the study, the researchers demonstrate how the method can be used to study Salmonella bacteria, both in culture dishes and in infected tissue. Researchers hope that this method will eventually be of use in both the healthcare and food industries where biofilms cause waste and serious illness. However, there are also situations where the ability of bacteria to form biofilms is positive, for example when the bacteria are used to produce biogas for fuel. “We are very excited to be able to provide this new tool for microbial researchers to be able to use and we are looking forward to seeing new results in the near future”, says Professor Agneta Richter-Dahlfors. The research was funded with support from the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research, Erling-Persson Family Foundation,Carl Bennet AB the Swedish Research Council. Some of the researchers behind the study is part owner of a company that could commercialize molecules for use in medicine and industry. Publication  "Real-time opto-tracing of curli and cellulose into live Salmonella biofilms using luminescent oligothiophenes" Ferdinand X. Choong, Marcus Brooks, Sara Fahlén, BG Leif Johansson, Keira Melican, Michael Rhine, K. Peter R Nilsson, Agneta Richter Dahlfors Nature Journal Biofilms and Microbiomes, published online 23 October 2016, doi: 10.1038/npjbiofilms.2016.24

KI has closed a five year collaboration agreement with MSD on real world evidence. The collaboration will be managed by the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and will give KI a financial support of 1 million USD per year for five years. In 2014, KI and MSD (Merck and Co. Inc. in US, MSD in Sweden) signed a non-binding Letter of Intent to express a mutual intention to engage in a strategic collaboration. The focus for the collaboration is to build knowledge and expertise through the use of real world data across broad population segments, to help inform future medical and clinical research, product development and economic models. This week, KI and MSD signed a Master Collaboration Agreement to establish the framework and governance structure for the future collaboration projects. The therapeutic areas in focus include cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, hepatitis C and cancer. The Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics will manage the collaboration which will be open to suitable projects anywhere at KI. The financial support is primarily provided by MSD, and will give no less than USD1 million per calendar year, for five years.

 New research from Karolinska Institutet refutes the findings of a previous study indicating a possible higher risk of death after sex-discordant blood transfusions for cardiac surgery. In a study published in the journal Circulation researchers from Karolinska Institutet and Lund University examined how sex-discordant blood transfusions (i.e. blood from a woman to a man or vice versa) affected survival following cardiac surgery. The study was conducted on data from the SWEDEHEART registry and the SCANDAT2 database on almost 50,000 patients who underwent cardiac surgery from 1997 to 2012 in Sweden. This study was done after a previous Swedish study from earlier in the year indicated a possible increased risk of death after cardiac surgery from sex-discordant blood transfusions. “The consequences of the findings from this first study, if proved true, would have been immense and necessitated radical changes to how blood transfusions are managed around the world,” says Martin Holzmann from Karolinska Institutet. Researchers found no association  In the new study, however, the team found no association between sex-discordant blood transfusions and post-cardiac surgery survival. Martin Holzmann, lead author of the new study continues: “Our results clearly show that there is no real connection between sex-discordant blood transfusions and the risk of death.” The reason for the difference between the studies is that the new one fully compensated for the fact that more transfusions increase the risk of death and of a mismatch between the sex of the donor and the patient. The researchers conclude from their results that current gender-blind blood transfusion procedures are safe and do not need changing. Publication Sex-Discordant Blood Transfusions and Survival After Cardiac Surgery Holzmann MJ, Sartipy U, Olsson ML, Dickman P, Edgren G. Circulation. Publicerad 21 november 2016. DOI: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.116.025087

Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) affects a large portion of the general population. New research coordinated by Karolinska Institutet now shows a link between defective sucrase-isomaltase gene variants and IBS. Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is the most common gastrointestinal disorder. More than 10% of the population suffer from recurrent symptoms including abdominal pain, gas, diarrhea and constipation. What causes IBS is largely unknown, and this hampers the development of effective treatment for many patients. Now an international research team led by scientists from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have identified defective sucrase-isomaltase gene variants that increase the risk of IBS. The study is published in the scientific journal GUT. “People with IBS often connect their symptoms to certain foods, particularly fermentable carbohydrates. We tested the hypothesis that genetic changes in the breakdown of disaccharides - small carbohydrates from sugars and starches - may be associated with increased risk of IBS” says corresponding author Mauro D’Amato from Karolinska Institutet. The researchers studied DNA variants in the gene encoding the enzyme sucrase-isomaltase (SI), due to the observation that SI mutations are often found in hereditary forms of sucrose intolerance, whose main characteristics diarrhea, abdominal pain and bloating are also common in IBS. 1887 participants studied By screening 1887 study participants from multiple centers in Sweden, Italy and US, they found that rare defective SI mutations were twice more common among IBS cases than healthy controls, and a common variant with reduced enzymatic activity was also associated with increased risk of IBS. “A significant decrease in the enzymatic activity of sucrase-isomaltase would be compatible with poor carbohydrate digestion in the intestine, possibly leading to malabsorption and bowel symptoms” says co-senior author Hassan Naim from the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover. “Our results provide rationale for novel nutrigenetic studies in IBS, with potential for personalizing treatment options based on SI genotype” adds Mauro D’Amato. In addition to Karolinska Institutet and the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, researchers and clinicians from several other institutions participated in the study, including the Mayo Clinic and University of California Los Angeles in the US, Christian-Albrechts-University Kiel in Germany, BioDonostia Health Research Institute in San Sebastian Spain, the University of Bologna Italy, and others. Publication "Functional variants in the sucrase-isomaltase gene associate with increased risk of irritable bowel syndrome" Maria Henström, Lena Diekmann, Ferdinando Bonfiglio, Fatemeh Hadizadeh, Eva-Maria Kuech, Maren von Köckritz-Blickwede, Louise B Thingholm, Tenghao Zheng, Ghazaleh Assadi, Claudia Dierks, Martin Heine, Ute Philipp, Ottmar Distl, Mary E Money, Meriem Belheouane, Femke-Anouska Heinsen, Joseph Rafter, Gerardo Nardone, Rosario Cuomo, Paolo Usai-Satta, Francesca Galeazzi, Matteo Neri, Susanna Walter, Magnus Simren, Pontus Karling, Bodil Ohlsson, Peter T Schmidt, Greger Lindberg, Aldona Dlugosz, Lars Agreus, Anna Andreasson, Emeran Mayer, John F Baines, Lars Engstrand, Piero Portincasa, Massimo Bellini, Vincenzo Stanghellini, Giovanni Barbara, Lin Chang, Michael Camilleri, Andre Franke, Hassan Y Naim, Mauro D’Amato Gut. Published online 21 November 2016. DOI: 10.1136/gutjnl-2016-312456

KI’s 112 new doctors of medicine and dentistry graduated on 11 November at a ceremony in the City Hall celebrating their attainment of the highest academic degree possible. The ceremony was held in a snowy Stockholm with speeches and entertainment in the Blue Hall, where the new doctors were presented with their doctor’s hats and diplomas by conferrer Marianne Schultzberg, Dean of Doctoral education at KI. In her welcoming address, KI’s acting vice-chancellor Karin Dahlman-Wright said how proud she was of the new doctors and praised the hard work they put into achieving their goals. She also mentioned the close partnership that KI has with the healthcare sector, and some of the career opportunities that are open to a KI PhD student. “The training of new researchers is one of Karolinska Institutet’s most important missions,” she said. “I wish you every success on whatever path you choose and look forward to working with you.” Tribute was also paid to eleven jubilee doctors who graduated from KI 50 years ago. Karin Dahlman-Wright extended to them her warmest thanks for all they have achieved in the name of health and medical knowledge, and for the legacy they leave to coming generations in the field of medicine. Text: Selma Wolofsky Photo: Ulf Sirborn

Starting 1December 2016 the name of the KI Huddinge campus will be Campus Flemingsberg. Behind the name change is the desire to strengthen and simplify the collaboration between universities and colleges on the campus, as well as making it easier for visitors traveling to the campus. Taking into consideration the nearest commuter train station is called Flemingsberg. “It’s important for many reasons that KI’s two campuses in Solna and Flemingsberg have a distinct profile,” says Matti Sällberg, head of the Department of Laboratory Medicine and member of the naming group.  “Moreover, a common campus name is needed for the different universities and colleges that are now relocating to new premises in Flemingsberg. This new name, Campus Flemingsberg is fitting, bringing all of these institutions under one common umbrella.” For further information on the new campus name, please visit KI’s internal web. 

It has been said that HIV cannot be cured since the virus propagates in places beyond the reach of antiviral agents. New research from Karolinska Institutet suggests, however, that this view is incorrect. There have been two main theories why HIV infection cannot be cured even though antviral drugs are effective at suppressing the virus and thus providing protection against AIDS and reducing its contagiousness. In an article published in eLife, a team of researchers led by Professor Jan Albert at Karolinska Institutet shows that the reason for this is that HIV builds its DNA into long-living immune cells called memory cells, which remember previous infections and vaccinations. Their results contradict a recent study in Nature in which American researchers claim to have found proof that the virus propagates in hidden-away places beyond the reach of antiviral agents. “Some experts have been sceptical about the Nature study,” says Professor Albert. “Our research vindicates this scepticism in that it suggests that HIV can’t be cured since it survives as an integral part of our chromosomal DNA in long-living cells without propagating.”  Publication "Establishment and stability of the latent HIV-1 DNA reservoir" Johanna Brodin, Fabio Zanini, Lina Thebo, Christa Lanz, Göran Bratt, Richard A Neher, Jan Albert  eLife, published online 15 November 2016. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.18889