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Karin Wårdell

Professor

Professor of Biomedical Engineering and research leader for the Neuroengineering group.

Minimally Invasive Instrumentation and Neuroengineering (MINT)

Background

My background is in technical physics and electrical engineering (MSc-Y 1987), a PhD (1994) and Docent (1997) in Biomedical Instrumentation. Since 2002 I am Professor of Biomedical Engineering – minimally invasive instrumentation at Linköping University.

Research interests

My research interests lie in the field of neuroengineering and biomedical instrumentation and include:

  • neuronavigation
  • imaging methods
  • biomedical optics
  • modeling and simulation
  • brain microcirculation
  • translational research for clinical studies.

Main application areas are deep brain stimulation (DBS), optical guidance in neurosurgery, brain tumor surgery and monitoring methods in neurointensive care. The research is conducted in close collaboration with clinical researchers both nationally and internationally.

I am a recipient of the Otto Schmidt Award from the IFMBE, and a Fellow of IAMBE and EAMBES.

Contact

Phone number: +46 10 1032455

Project grants

Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF), and Swedish Research Council (VR-NT), Child Cancer Foundation, ALF Region Östergötland, LiU Cancer.

Publications

Publications from the Neuroengineering group

Google Scholar

ResearchGate

ORCID

2025

Sofie Tapper, Stina Mauritzon, Marcelo Pereira Martins, Fredrik Ginstman, Anders Tisell, Peter Zsigmond, Karin Wårdell (2025) Simultaneous MRI and laser Doppler Flowmetry: Assessing cerebral Macro-and microcirculation in neurointensive care NeuroImage: Clinical, Vol. 47, Article 103821 (Article, review/survey) Continue to DOI
Elisabeth Klint, Anders Tisell, Ida Blystad, Martin Hallbeck, Teresa Nordin, Jan Hillman, Johan Richter, Karin Wårdell (2025) Quantitative MRI relaxometry in brain tumor needle biopsies: Multimodal comparison with tissue fluorescence, radiology, and neuropathology PLOS ONE, Vol. 20, Article e0326765 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Karin Wårdell, Elisabeth Klint, Johan Richter (2025) Probe-Based Fluorescence Spectroscopy for In Situ Brain Tumor Measurements During Resection and Needle Biopsies Biomedicines, Vol. 13, Article 537 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI

2024

Elisabeth Klint, Johan Richter, Peter Milos, Martin Hallbeck, Karin Wårdell (2024) In situ optical feedback in brain tumor biopsy: A multiparametric analysis Neuro-Oncology Advances, Vol. 6, Article vdae175 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Sofie Tapper, Anders Tisell, Jan Hillman, Karin Wårdell (2024) Method for detection of cerebral blood flow in neurointensive care using longitudinal arterial spin labeling MRI PLOS ONE, Vol. 19, Article e0314056 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Karin Wårdell, Johan Richter, Peter Zsigmond (2024) Cerebral Microcirculation: Progress and Outlook of Laser Doppler Flowmetry in Neurosurgery and Neurointensive Care Microcirculation, Vol. 31, Article e12884 (Article, review/survey) Continue to DOI
Dorian Vogel, Teresa Nordin, Stefanie Feiler, Karin Wårdell, Jerome Coste, Jean-Jacques Lemaire, Simone Hemm-Ode (2024) Probabilistic stimulation mapping from intra-operative thalamic deep brain stimulation data in essential tremor Journal of Neural Engineering, Vol. 21, Article 036017 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI

2023

Karin Wårdell, Elisabeth Klint, Peter Milos, Johan Richter (2023) One-Insertion Stereotactic Brain Biopsy Using In Vivo Optical Guidance-A Case Study Operative Neurosurgery, Vol. 25, p. 176-182 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Teresa Nordin, Patric Blomstedt, Simone Hemm-Ode, Karin Wårdell (2023) How Sample Size Impacts Probabilistic Stimulation Maps in Deep Brain Stimulation Brain Sciences, Vol. 13, Article 756 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Elisabeth Klint, Johan Richter, Karin Wårdell (2023) Combined Use of Frameless Neuronavigation and In Situ Optical Guidance in Brain Tumor Needle Biopsies Brain Sciences, Vol. 13, Article 809 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI
Peter Milos, Neda Haj-Hosseini, Jan Hillman, Karin Wårdell (2023) 5-ALA fluorescence in randomly selected pediatric brain tumors assessed by spectroscopy and surgical microscope Acta Neurochirurgica, Vol. 165, p. 71-81 (Article in journal) Continue to DOI

Research

Two doctors is standing in front of a screen where a disection of a brain is visible.

Neuroengineering

Neuroengineering is a cross-disciplinary research area where engineering meets neuroscience. New methods, tools and techniques are developed and translated for clinical use. The research contributes to new knowledge of the human brain.
Biomedical optics.

Biomedical Optics

Biomedical Optics studies the basic principles of interaction between light and biological tissues, cells and molecules and develops new technologies for use in basic research and clinical applications.
Person in protective gear working with microscope.

Profile area - Life Science Technologies, LSX

The Life Science Technologies proposal includes interdisciplinary research in medicine, natural and engineering sciences, an area where basic research can be developed and contribute to new and important clinical applications.
Optical guidance in neuro surgery

Optical guidance in neurosurgery

Optical techniques as laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF), diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) and fluorescence systems, and their related measurement probes, are adapted and translate for use during the neurosurgery.
Two scientists are sitting infront of an MRI

Center for Medical Image Science and Visualization, CMIV

CMIV conducts focused front-line research providing solutions to tomorrow’s clinical issues. The CMIV mission is to develop future methods and tools for image analysis and visualization for applications within health care and medical research.

In the media

Framtidens forskning "Utvecklar beslutsstöd för djup hjärnstimulering" (2022-06-17)

Framtidens forskning "Kombination av tekniker ger nya möjligheter för neurokirurgi" (2022-06-17)

Co-workers

Nathanael Göransson

MD, Neurosurgeon, PhD student

Headshot of Simone Hemm-Ode

Simone Hemm-Ode

Guest professor

Photo of Elisabeth Klint

Elisabeth Klint

PhD student

Photo of Stina Mauritzon

Stina Mauritzon

PhD student

Photo of Teresa Nordin

Teresa Nordin

Assistant Professor

Photo of Bengt Ragnemalm

Bengt Ragnemalm

Senior Coordinator

Placeholder for missing image of Johan Richter

Johan Richter

Adjunct Associate Professor

Photo of Sofie Tapper

Sofie Tapper

Postdoc

Photo of Peter Zsigmond

Peter Zsigmond

Adjunct Associate Professor, Docent

News

Biomedical Engineering

02 September 2019

Major successes for multidisciplinary research at LiU

The Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research has granted SEK 200 million for research in the interface between technology and medicine. LiU scientists are principle investigator in three of the six projects, and co-applicant in a fourth.

Organisation

Computer simulation of a person

Department of Biomedical Engineering (IMT)

A national centre for research, PhD studies and graduate studies within biomedical engineering, since 1972.
A monitor displaying health data for a patient.

Division of Biomedical Engineering (MT)

A national centre for research, education and innovation within the field of biomedical engineering.

News

SSF contributes to new applications of Big Data

The IMT project "Deep Brain Stimulation: Data Analysis for Clinical Support" is presented in Framtidens forskning. Published 2018-06-26.

Article in Framtidens forskning.
Biomedical Engineering

02 September 2019

Major successes for multidisciplinary research at LiU

The Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research has granted SEK 200 million for research in the interface between technology and medicine. LiU scientists are principle investigator in three of the six projects, and co-applicant in a fourth.

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