The StratNeuro Clinical Grants aim to support clinically active researchers in neuroscience at KI, and who have been granted a "Klinisk forskare" or a "Högre klinisk forskare" grant from Region Stockholm.
This year, Joar Guterstam (Kliniska forskare 2026) and Marc Guitart-Masip (Högre kliniska forskare 2026) were eligible to apply. After reviewing their applications, the StratNeuro board decided to support both, and each will receive 250,000 SEK per year for two years:
- Joar Guterstam (Center for Psychiatry Research, Department of Clinical Neuroscience): Tramadol addiction - a new and growing opioid problem
- Marc Guitart-Masip (Center for Psychiatry Research, Department of Clinical Neuroscience): Psychobiological markers to improve diagnosis and to predict affective episodes in bipolar disorder
We got in touch with them both to ask about their projects.
Joar Guterstam
"My research is focused on pharmacological treatments for addiction, and in this project we focus on tramadol use disorder. Tramadol is a synthetic opioid, which has become a growing problem in addiction care in recent years. Our project aims to investigate the clinical characteristics and prognosis for this patient group through observational studies and try out a new treatment in a randomized clinical trial.
The StratNeuro Clinical Grant gives us much better opportunities to pursue this project in a successful way and recruit patients from this hard-to-reach population."
Marc Guitart-Masip
"The project aims to improve the diagnosis and treatment of bipolar disorder by developing new methods to detect early warning signs of manic and depressive episodes. Using a smartphone app and smartwatch, researchers will investigate how sleep patterns, physical activity, and decision-making abilities interact in people with bipolar disorder. By combining these measurements with artificial intelligence, the team hopes to distinguish bipolar disorder from recurrent depression and predict mood episodes before they occur. Ultimately, the project could pave the way for more personalized psychiatric care, enabling earlier interventions, improving patients' quality of life, and reducing the risk of suicide.
This grant provides valuable support at a crucial stage of our research, allowing us to further develop and pilot our methods for monitoring bipolar disorder. It will also help us generate the preliminary data needed to advance the project and secure funding for a larger study."
