Karolinska Institutet (KI), one of the world’s leading medical universities, annually awards the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. KI has 3700 employees. KI provides excellent postgraduate training with 2100 PhD students from all around the world who are active in both basic and clinical research. This group, which is part of the WHO center for Research in Human Reproduction, is headed by Prof. Gemzell-Danielsson focuses on reproductive disorders. More than 30 persons work in the research group.

The gynecology department in the hospital is an advanced center for tumor surgery. The WHO group has an excellent experimental research laboratory to perform molecular and cell based experiments including stem cells and 3D cell culture models. The center has a very active clinical trial center conducting various clinical trials on volunteers and patents and has its own gynecological procedure room for endometrial sample collection. Currently, our sample collections include serum, uterine fluid, endometrial and endometriotic biopsies.

The group has a long-standing position in the field of endometriosis both with clinical and experimental research. It includes a well-trained team of gynecologists, doctors, research nurses, scientists, postdoctoral researchers, and experts in global health, PhD and medical students. We have an excellent collaboration with the endometriosis patient group and have a set of healthy and endometriosis patient volunteers for donating their endometrium.

1. Sundqvist J et al., Expression of adhesion, attachment and invasion markers in eutopic and ectopic endometrium: a link to the aetiology of endometriosis. Hum Reprod. 2012;27:2737-46. Funded by Swedish research council (SRC) and KI

2. Sundqvist J, et al., Replication of endometriosis-associated single-nucleotide polymorphisms from genome-wide association studies in a Caucasian population. Hum Reprod. 2013;28(3):835-9. Funded by (SRC)

3. Sundqvist J, et al., Endometriosis and autoimmune disease: association of susceptibility to moderate/severe endometriosis with CCL21 and HLA-DRB1. Fertil Steril. 2011; 95:437-40. Funded by (SRC)

4. Sundqvist J, et al., Ovarian cancer-associated polymorphisms in the BNC2 gene among women with endometriosis. Hum Reprod. 2011;26:2253-7.

5. Ponandai-Srinivasan S, et al. . Aberrant expression of genes associated with stemness and cancer in endometria and endometrioma in a subset of women with endometriosis. Hum Reprod. 2018;33:1924-1938