in full  The Royal Caroline Medico-chirurgical Institute,  Swedish  Karolinska Mediko-kirurgiska Institutet,  a Swedish institute for medical education and research, founded in 1810. The primary interest of the institute is research; it has achieved international renown for its biomedical research in particular. As a centre of medical education, the Karolinska Institute trains one-third of all the physicians, dentists, and psychotherapists who receive their professional training in Sweden. Since 1901 the institute has also been responsible for selecting the annual winners of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine, as instructed by Alfred Nobel in his will.