The Karolinska Institute (KI; sv, Karolinska Institutet; sometimes known as the (Royal) Caroline Institute in English) is a research-led medical university in Solna within the

Stockholm urban area The Stockholm urban area ( sv, Stockholms tätort) is the largest and most populous of the statistical localities or urban areas in Sweden. It has no administrative function of its own, but constitutes a continuous built-up area, which extends int ...

of Sweden. The Karolinska Institute is consistently ranked amongst the world's best medical schools, ranking 6th worldwide for medicine in 2021. The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute awards the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The assembly consists of fifty professors from various medical disciplines at the university. The current

rector Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to: Style or title *Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations *Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...

of Karolinska Institute is

Ole Petter Ottersen Ole Petter Ottersen (born 17 March 1955) is a Norwegian physician and neuroscientist. He serves as the Rector of Karolinska Institute in Sweden, and took office in August 2017. Ottersen has been professor of medicine at the University of Oslo sinc ...

, who took office in August 2017. The Karolinska Institute was founded in 1810 on the island of Kungsholmen on the west side of

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

; the main campus was relocated decades later to Solna, just outside Stockholm. A second campus was established more recently in Flemingsberg, Huddinge, south of Stockholm. The Karolinska Institute is Sweden's third oldest medical school, after Uppsala University (founded in 1477) and Lund University (founded in 1666). It is one of Sweden's largest centres for training and research, accounting for 30% of the medical training and more than 40% of all academic medical and life science research conducted in Sweden. The Karolinska University Hospital, located in Solna and Huddinge, is associated with the university as a research and teaching hospital. Together they form an

academic health science centre An academic medical centre (AMC), variously also known as academic health science centre, academic health science system, or academic health science partnership, is an educational and healthcare institute formed by the grouping of a health profess ...

. While most of the medical programs are taught in Swedish, the bulk of the PhD projects are conducted in English. The institute's name is a reference to the Caroleans.

Nobel Prize winners

*1955 Hugo Theorell becomes KI's first Nobel laureate, receiving the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discoveries concerning the nature and mode of action of oxidation enzymes. *1967 Ragnar Granit receives the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his contributions to the analysis of retinal function and how optical nerve cells respond to light stimuli, colour and frequency. *1970 Ulf von Euler receives the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his contributions for discoveries concerning the humoral transmittors in the nerve terminals and the mechanism for their storage, release and inactivation. *1981 Torsten Wiesel and

David H. Hubel David Hunter Hubel (February 27, 1926 – September 22, 2013) was a Canadian American neurophysiologist noted for his studies of the structure and function of the visual cortex. He was co-recipient with Torsten Wiesel of the 1981 Nobel Pri ...

jointly receive the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries concerning information processing in the visual system. *1982 Sune Bergström and Bengt Samuelsson jointly receive the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries concerning prostaglandins and related biologically active substances.

Seal's symbolism

Rod of Asclepius

The rod of Asclepius is named after the god of medicine, Aesculapius or Asclepius. This ancient god was the son of Apollo and was generally accompanied by a snake. Over time, the snake became coiled around the staff borne by the god.

Snake bowl

The snake bowl was originally depicted together with Asclepius' daughter, the virgin goddess of health Hygieia or Hygiea. The snake ate from her bowl, which was considered to bring good fortune. There is nothing to support the notion that the snake would secrete its venom into the bowl.

Cockerel

The cockerel symbolises new life and was sacrificed to Asclepius by those who had recovered from illness. This is the meaning behind the Greek philosopher Socrates' last words after he drank the poisoned cup: "Crito, we owe a cock to Asclepius. Do pay it. Don't forget."

Education

The Karolinska Institute offers the widest range of medical education under one roof in Sweden. Several of the programmes include clinical training or other training within the healthcare system. The close proximity of the Karolinska University Hospital and other teaching hospitals in the Stockholm area thus plays an important role during the education. Approximately 6,000 full-time students are taking educational and single subject courses at Bachelor and Master levels at the Karolinska Institute. Annually, 20 upper high school students from all over Sweden get selected to attend Karolinska's 7-week long biomedical summer research school, informally named "SoFo".

Departments

Rankings and reputation

The Karolinska Institute is not listed in the overall QS World University Rankings since it only ranks multi-faculty universities. However, QS does rank the Karolinska Institute in the category of Medicine, placing it as the best in Sweden, 3rd in Europe and 5th worldwide in 2020. In 2015, the QS ranked the Department of Dental Medicine 1st in the world. According to the 2021 Times Higher Education World University Rankings, the Karolinska Institute is ranked 10th worldwide and 5th in Europe in clinical, pre-clinical and other health subjects. The 2021 U.S. News & World Report Best Global University Ranking placed KI as 11th worldwide in Psychiatry and Psychology. In 2019, the

Academic Ranking of World Universities The ''Academic Ranking of World Universities'' (''ARWU''), also known as the Shanghai Ranking, is one of the annual publications of world university rankings. The league table was originally compiled and issued by Shanghai Jiao Tong University ...

ranked the Karolinska Institute in 4th place worldwide for pharmacy, 5th for public health, 6th for nursing, and 21st for clinical medicine. The university was a founding member of the League of European Research Universities.

Hong Kong donation controversy

In February 2015, the KI announced it had received a record $50 million donation from Lau Ming-wai, who chairs Hong Kong property developer Chinese Estates Holdings, and would establish a research centre in the city. Within a few days, '' Next Magazine'' revealed that Chuen-yan – son of Hong Kong Chief Executive CY Leung – had recently been awarded a fellowship to research heart disease therapeutics at the institute in Stockholm beginning that year, and raised questions about the "intricate relationship between the chief executive and powerful individuals". CY Leung had visited KI when in Sweden in 2014, and subsequently introduced KI president, Anders Hamsten, to Lau. The Democratic Party urged the ICAC to investigate the donation, suggesting that Leung may have abused his public position to further his son's career. The Chief Executive's Office strenuously denied suggestions of any quid pro quo, saying that "the admission of the hief Executive'sson to post-doctoral research at KI is an independent decision by KI having regard to his professional standards. He he sonplays no role and does not hold any position at the roposedMing Wai Lau Center for Regenerative Medicine." This accusation has also been questioned by the ''

South China Morning Post The ''South China Morning Post'' (''SCMP''), with its Sunday edition, the ''Sunday Morning Post'', is a Hong Kong-based English-language newspaper owned by Alibaba Group. Founded in 1903 by Tse Tsan-tai and Alfred Cunningham, it has remained ...

s Canadian-based pro-Beijing and pro-government opinion columnist, Alex Lo: "The insinuation is that Leung Chuen-yan with a doctorate from Cambridge doesn't deserve his job at the Karolinska Institute... Leung the son probably could get similar junior posts in many other prestigious-sounding – at least to brand-obsessed Hongkongers – research institutes; it's not that big a deal."

Scientific misconduct

The institute received unfavorable attention in the 2010s for its failure to prevent the deaths of seven patients at the hands of one of their star surgeons, Paolo Macchiarini, who was ultimately found to have repeatedly falsified medical data in order to perform experimental surgeries that were unsuccessful and lead to the deaths of the patients, where diseased tracheas were replaced with prosthetic implants. The institute was accused of engaging in targeted retribution against the whistleblowers rather than conducting a full, impartial and appropriate review. This scientific misconduct scandal occurred in 2014, and involved one of the institute's star surgeons, Paolo Macchiarini. Macchiarini was accused by four former colleagues and co-authors of having falsified claims in his research. After its unsuccessful effort to avoid unfavorable publicity by silencing whistleblowers, media coverage and public opinion finally forced the institute to act. In April 2015, the ethics committee of the institute issued a response to one set of allegations with regard to research ethics and peer review at the ''Lancet'', and found them to be groundless. The Karolinska Institute later appointed an external expert, Bengt Gerdin, to review the charges, comparing the results reported by Macchiarini and his collaborators to the medical record of the hospital. Gerdin's report was released by Karolinska in May 2015. Gerdin found that Macchiarini had committed research misconduct in seven out of seven papers: The findings showed he had not obtained ethical approval for the some of his operations (as claimed), and had misrepresented the result of some of those operations, as well as work he had done with animals. In August 2015, after considering the findings and a rebuttal provided by Macchiarini, vice-chancellor of Karolinska Institute Anders Hamsten found that Macchiarini had acted "without due care" but had not committed misconduct. The journal '' The Lancet'', which published Macchiarini's work, also published an article defending Macchiarini. On 5 January 2016, the magazine ''Vanity Fair'' published a story about Macchiarini romancing a journalist, which also questioned the accuracy of statements he had made on his CV. On 13 January 2016the same day that the first part of a three-part documentary about Macchiarini would air on Swedish televisionGerdin criticized the vice-chancellor's dismissal of the allegations in an interview on Swedish television. Later that day,

Sveriges Television Sveriges Television AB ("Sweden's Television Stock Company"), shortened to SVT (), is the Sweden, Swedish national public broadcasting, public television broadcaster, funded by a public service tax on personal income set by the Riksdag (national ...

investigative TV show started airing a three-part series, titled "Experimenten", in which Macchiarini's work was investigated. The documentary showed Macchiarini continuing operations with the new method even after it showed little or no promise, seeming to exaggerate the health of patients following the experimental surgery despite the ultimate deaths of those patients. While Macchiarini admitted that the synthetic trachea did not work in the current state, he did not agree that trying it on several additional patients without further testing had been inappropriate. Allegations were also made that patients' medical conditions both before and after the operations, as reported in academic papers, were inconsistent with patient records. Macchiarini also claimed that the synthetic trachea had been tested on animals before using it on humans, something that could not be verified. On 28 January, Karolinska issued a statement saying that the documentary made claims of which it was unaware, and that it would consider re-opening the investigations. These concerns were echoed by the chairman of the Karolinska Institute, Lars Leijonborg, and the chairman of the Swedish Medical Association, Heidi Stensmyren, calling for an independent investigation that would also review the actions of the university and hospital management in responding to allegations of scientific misconduct. In February 2016, the Karolinska Institute published a review of Macchiarini's CV that identified discrepancies. In March, 2016. the institute terminated Macchiarini's contract. In October 2016, the BBC broadcast a three-part '' Storyville'' documentary, ''Fatal Experiments: The Downfall of a Supersurgeon'', directed by

Bosse Lindquist Bosse Lindquist (born 1954) is a Swedish radio and TV producer and writer. Since 2012, he directs investigative documentaries for Swedish Television's documentary department. From 2007 to 2009, Lindquist was head of the national radio broadcaster ...

and based on the earlier Swedish programmes about Macchiarini. After the special aired, the Karolinska Institute requested Sweden's national scientific review board to review six of Macchiarini's publications about the procedures. The board published its findings in October 2017, and concluded that all six demonstrated scientific misconduct, in particular by failing to report the surgical complications and deaths that occurred after the interventions; and that one of the articles falsely claimed that the procedure had been approved by an ethics committee, when this had not happened. The board called for all six of the papers to be retracted. It also reported that all of the papers' co-authors had committed scientific misconduct as well.

Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute

Nobel PressConf GKHansen NTNU1147 (15773258580) (2)

The Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute is a body at the Karolinska Institute which awards the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The Nobel Assembly consists of fifty professors in medical subjects at the Karolinska Institute, appointed by the faculty of the institute, and is a private organisation which is formally not part of the Karolinska Institute. The main work involved in collecting nominations and screening nominees is performed by the Nobel Committee at the Karolinska Institute, which has five members. The Nobel Committee, which is appointed by the Nobel Assembly, is only empowered to recommend laureates, while the final decision rests with the Nobel Assembly. In the early history of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, which was first awarded in 1901, the laureates were decided upon by the entire faculty of the Karolinska Institute. The reason for creating a special body for the decisions concerning the Nobel Prize was the fact that the Karolinska Institute is a state-run university, which in turn means that it is subject to various laws that apply to government agencies in Sweden and similar Swedish public sector organisations, such as freedom of information legislation. By moving the actual decision making to a private body at Karolinska Institute (but not part of it), it is possible to follow the regulations for the Nobel Prize set down by the Nobel Foundation, including keeping the confidentiality of all documents and proceedings for a minimum of 50 years. Also, the legal possibility of contesting the decisions in e.g. administrative courts is removed. The other two Nobel Prize-awarding bodies in Sweden, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the Swedish Academy, are legally private organisations (although enjoying royal patronage), and have therefore not had to make any special arrangements to be able to follow the Nobel Foundation's regulations.

Notable alumni or faculty

File:Jöns Jacob Berzelius.jpg,

Jöns Jacob Berzelius Baron Jöns Jacob Berzelius (; by himself and his contemporaries named only Jacob Berzelius, 20 August 1779 – 7 August 1848) was a Swedish chemist. Berzelius is considered, along with Robert Boyle, John Dalton, and Antoine Lavoisier, to be on ...

File:Mosander Carl Gustav bw.jpg, Carl Gustaf Mosander File:Widerström, Karolina ur Cederschöld; En banbryterska (1913).jpg, Karolina Widerström File:Edman-1968.png, Pehr Edman File:Ivar Wickman 2.jpg,

Ivar Wickman Otto Ivar Wickman (10 July 1872 in Lund – 20 April 1914 in Saltsjöbaden) was a Swedish physician, who discovered in 1907 the epidemic and contagious character of poliomyelitis. Life and achievements Education and academic career Son of ...

File:Nanna_Charlotta_Svartz.jpg,

Nanna Svartz Nanna Charlotta Svartz (25 July 1890 in Västerås – 3 April 1986 in Stockholm) was a Sweden, Swedish physician and the first female professor at a public university in Sweden. Her research focused on gastrointestinal diseases and rheumatology. ...

File:Ulf von Euler.jpg, Ulf von Euler File:Herbert Olivecrona.jpg,

Herbert Olivecrona Axel Herbert Olivecrona (July 11, 1891 – January 1980) was a Swedish professor and brain surgeon, credited with founding the field of Swedish neurosurgery, and pioneering developments in modern neurosurgery. Family, early life and education He ...

File:Ragnar Granit.jpg, Ragnar Granit File:Hugo Theorell nobel.jpg, Hugo Theorell File:Sune Bergström 3.jpg, Sune Bergström File:Nobel Laureate Torsten Wiesel in 2011 Photo by Markus Marcetic for Young Academy of Sweden.jpg, Torsten Wiesel File:Tomas Lindahl 0113.jpg, Tomas Lindahl File:Ewa Bjorling (M) nordisk samarbetsminister Sverige. Nordiska radets session 2010.jpg, Ewa Björling File:Lennart Nilsson 2014.jpg,

Lennart Nilsson Lennart Nilsson (24 August 1922 – 28 January 2017) was a Swedish photographer noted for his photographs of human embryos and other medical subjects once considered unphotographable, and more generally for his extreme macro photography. He ...

File:RIAN archive 556150 Fencer Johan Harmenberg.jpg,

Johan Harmenberg Johan Georg Harmenberg (born 8 September 1954 in Stockholm, Sweden) is a Swedish Olympic and world champion epee fencer. Early and personal life Harmenberg was born in Stockholm, Sweden. He completed two years of study at the Massachusetts ...

* Jöns Jakob Berzelius (1779–1848; professor at KI), invented modern chemical notation and is considered one of the fathers of modern

chemistry Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...

; discoverer of the elements silicon, selenium, thorium, and cerium * Carl Gustaf Mosander (1792–1858; student of chemist

, his successor 1836), chemist, discoverer of the elements lanthanum, erbium and terbium. * Axel Key (1832–1901), pathologist, rector 1886–1897, founder of what would become the '' Journal of Internal Medicine'' * Gustaf Retzius (1842–1919), anatomist (professor 1877–1890) *

Karl Oskar Medin Karl Oskar Medin (14 August 1847 – 24 December 1927) was a Swedish pediatrician. He was born at Axberg, Örebro and died in Stockholm. He is most famous for his study of poliomyelitis, a condition sometimes known as the Heine-Medin disease, ...

(1847–1928), paediatrician, famous for his study of

poliomyelitis Poliomyelitis, commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 70% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe sym ...

(professor 1883–1914) *

Wilhelm Netzel Nils Wilhelm Netzel (1 November 1834 – 7 February 1914) was a Swedish gynecologist and obstetrician. Biography Netzel was born in Stockholm and studied at Uppsala University, completing his dissertation in 1865 on puerperal changes in modern l ...

(1834–1914), Swedish researcher, gynecologist and obstetrician *

(1872–1914), pediatrician, pupil of Medin, polio expert * Göran Liljestrand (1886–1968),

physiologist Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical a ...

and pharmacologist *

(1890–1986), first female professor at Karolinska Institute and, as a result, the first woman to be appointed professor at a public university in Sweden ever; researcher in gastrointestinal diseases and rheumatologist * Ulf von Euler (1905–1983), physiologist,

Nobel Laureate in Physiology or Medicine The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine ( sv, Nobelpriset i fysiologi eller medicin) is awarded annually by the Swedish Karolinska Institutet, Karolinska Institute to scientists in the various fields of physiology or medicine. It is one of the ...

in 1970 *

(1891–1980), founder of Swedish neurosurgery * Ragnar Granit (1900–1991),

in 1967 * Hugo Theorell (1903–1982),

in 1955 * Lars Leksell (1907–1986), physician, inventor of

radiosurgery Radiosurgery is surgery using radiation, that is, the destruction of precisely selected areas of tissue using ionizing radiation rather than excision with a blade. Like other forms of radiation therapy (also called radiotherapy), it is usually u ...

and the Gamma Knife * Sune Bergström (1916–2004),

in 1982 (with Bengt I. Samuelsson and John Robert Vane) * Pehr Edman (1916–1977), chemist (Med. dr 1946). Cf. Edman degradation *

Sven Ivar Seldinger Sven Ivar Seldinger (19 April 1921 – 21 February 1998), was a radiologist from Mora Municipality, Sweden. In 1953, he introduced the Seldinger technique to obtain safe access to blood vessels and other hollow organs. Biography Sven Ivar Seldinge ...

(1921–1998), radiologist, inventor of the Seldinger technique * Torsten Wiesel (born 1924),

in 1981 * Carl-Gustav Groth (1933–2014), pioneer of organ transplantation * Bengt I. Samuelsson (born 1934),

in 1982 (with Sune Bergström and John Robert Vane) * Tomas Lindahl, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry in 2015 (with Paul Modrich and

Aziz Sancar Aziz Sancar (born 8September 1946) is a Turkish molecular biologist specializing in DNA repair, cell cycle checkpoints, and circadian clock. In 2015, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry along with Tomas Lindahl and Paul L. Modrich for t ...

), cancer researcher and winner of the

Royal Medal The Royal Medal, also known as The Queen's Medal and The King's Medal (depending on the gender of the monarch at the time of the award), is a silver-gilt medal, of which three are awarded each year by the Royal Society, two for "the most important ...

(1922–2017), computational biologist, photojournalist, and

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

-award-winning documentarian *

(born 1954), Olympic champion épée fencer

References

External links

Karolinska Institute
– Official site {{Authority control Medical schools in Sweden Higher education in Stockholm Nursing schools in Sweden Educational institutions established in 1810 Academic health science centres Life sciences industry 1810 establishments in Sweden