The Division of Neuro

Kyla McKay has been awarded the Bjarne Ahlström Minnesfonds pris in “Clinical Neurology - especially inflammatory mechanisms affecting central or peripheral nervous system function”.

For 2025, the Parkinson's Foundation has decided to provide funding for more than 40 new projects that can help Swedes with Parkinson's disease, of which 14 research projects are conducted at Karolinska Institutet. Per Svenningsson is involved in the project.

The Committee for Research at Karolinska Institutet has granted a total of SEK 1.8 million to the Karolinska Neuroimmunology and Multiple sclerosis network (KNIMS), a consortium of preclinical and clinical scientists who share a common aim to improve the understanding, treatment and healthcare of neuroinflammatory diseases with a special focus on Multiple Sclerosis.

The Committee for Doctoral Education at Karolinska Institutet has granted five KID grants to the Division of Neuro (Department of Clinical Neuroscience) for projects focusing on multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's disease.

Congratulations to our seven researchers who have been granted over 31 million SEK in project grants from the Swedish Research Council 2024!

Daniel Lundqvist will be employed as Professor of Neuroimaging as of November 1, 2024.

Pictures from our annual Neuro Division Day, October 4, 2024.

The Erling-Persson Foundation is pleased to announce that as of September 24, 2024, a decision has been made to support the project Enabling personalized medicine in Multiple Sclerosis with SEK 6,000,000, distributed over three years.
The project is led by Fredrik Piehl. Also involved in the grant are Maja Jagodic, Tobias Granberg, Thomas Frisell and Nicolas Ruffin - all from the Neuro division.

Eva Kosek has been awarded Roland Melzack Lecture Award by the International Association for the Study of Pain.

Professor Bob Harris, academic vice-president of doctoral education, has been awarded the Federation of European Biochemical Societies (FEBS) Education Award. This is the first time that the prize has been awarded.

On March 20, Caroline Ingre received a grant from the Royal foundation, supporting and acknowledging ALS research conducted in Sweden.

Susanna Brauner and Fredrik Piehl are awarded SEK 2,400,000 each for the project “Characterization and optimization of the course of care in myasthenia gravis".

Vinnova is to finance the project "For efficient and sustainable use of health data through the integration of the DIGITAL-projects and GMS in Sweden (DIGIfor1healthSE)" with a grant of SEK 12 million over a period of four years. Daniel Lundqvist at the Division of Neuro is leading the Swedish leg of TEF-Health.

Professor Robert A. Harris is made honorary doctorate at the Iuliu Hatieganu University of Medicine and Pharmacy (UMF) Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The honour is given in recognition of Bob Harris’ exceptional contributions to the development of the university, especially in the context of the European University Alliance NeurotechEU project

Neuroförbundet distributes close to SEK 14 million to three ALS research projects. The research should contribute to better nursing, new medicines and precision medicines.

The Docent Committee decided on the 24 of August 2023 to admit Rayomand Press and Chartih Cooray, both affiliated with the Division of Neuro at CNS, as docents in neurologi.

Stefan Skare receives funding from Barncancerfonden (the Swedish Childhood Cancer Fund) for the development of motion-robust MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) methods for examining awake children with brain and spinal cord tumors. The project receives a total of SEK 3.9 million over three years.

MedTechLabs has granted SEK 35 million for two new medical technology research programmes. One will develop a new method for monitoring foetal oxygenation during labour. The other will develop a new method for early diagnosis of brain diseases using MR-Elastography.

Medical student Julie Cheung from Karolinska Institutet (KI), affiliated with Eric Thelin's research group, recently won first prize at the prestigious Global Undergraduate Awards thesis competition in the category of Medical Sciences.

University of Bergen in collaboration with researchers at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience at Karolinska Institutet, have been awarded a significant grant funded by Horizon Europe with €7 million during 2024-2028 in recognition of their dedication to target Epstein-Barr virus to treat and prevent Multiple Sclerosis.

On July 1, 2023, our research group leader Karin Jensen was employed as professor at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience (CNS).

Nature Communications has published a new study by researchers from Per Svenningsson's research group at the Division of Neuro.
The results of the study provide increased mechanistic understanding of how Parkinsonism occurs and show that increased levels of prosaposin can counteract Parkinsonism and is a new candidate for drug development. 

Link to the publication:
"Prosaposin maintains lipid homeostasis in dopamine neurons and counteracts experimental parkinsonism in rodents"

A new study in Nature by an international team including researchers at Karolinska Institutet has identified the first genetic variant associated with disease severity in multiple sclerosis. Ingrid Kockum at the Department of Clinical Neuroscience, and principal investigator for the European part of the study, says that this gives us an opportunity to develop new treatments to control progression, which is urgently needed by so many people suffering from MS.