Konstantina Kilteni

Konstantina Kilteni

Assistant Professor
Visiting address: ,
Postal address: C4 Neurovetenskap, C4 Forskning Kilteni, 171 77 Stockholm
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About me

  • I am an Assistant Professor (biträdande lektor) at the Neuroscience Department of KI. I run the Somatosensation and Gargalesis lab (kiltenilab.org) and I am interested in touch and tickle sensations.

Research

  • Anything related to touch fascinates me! 

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  • Our research focuses on understanding how we perceive touch (somatosensation) and tickle (gargalesis). In particular, we want to know why we perceive touch that is produced by our own movements different from the touch of other people, and how the brain best supports this distinction. We are also interested in understanding what makes touch ticklish and why our brain does not allow to tickle ourselves. 

  • To answer our questions, we perform behavioral and neuroimaging experiments with healthy participants.

Teaching

  • I am co-organizing and teaching in the course Frontiers in Cognitive Neuroanatomy at KI.

Articles

All other publications

Grants

  • Self vs others: perceptual and neural mechanisms of self-touch
    Swedish Research Council
    1 May 2025 - 30 April 2028
  • Encoding of tactile expectations during voluntary movement
    1 January 2025 - 31 December 2026
  • The Puzzle of Self-Tickling: From Darwin’s observations to modern neuroscience insights
    BIAL Foundation
    1 January 2025 - 31 December 2026
  • The ticklish brain
    Dutch Research Council
    1 November 2024 - 31 October 2025
  • Group Leader Grant in Medicine
    Åke Wiberg Foundation
    1 January 2023 - 30 November 2024
  • The neuroscience of human tickle perception
    European Research Council
    1 January 2023 - 31 December 2027
  • Tactile predictions
    KI Research Grant
    1 January 2023 - 31 December 2024
  • Startup Grant in Neuroscience
    Strategic Research Program in Neuroscience
    1 January 2020 - 31 December 2021
  • Group Leader Grant in Medicine
    Åke Wiberg Foundation
    1 January 2020 - 31 December 2021
  • KI Research Grant
    KI Research Grant
    1 January 2018 - 31 December 2019
  • Marie Sklodowska Curie postdoctoral fellowship
    European Commission
    1 January 2017 - 31 December 2018
  • KI Research Grant
    KI Research Grant
    1 January 2016 - 31 December 2017
  • Wenner-Gren Postdoctoral fellowship
    Wenner-Gren Foundation
    1 January 2016 - 31 December 2016

Employments

  • Assistant Professor, Department of Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, 2020-2026

Degrees and Education

  • PhD, Psychobiology, University of Barcelona, 2014
  • Bachelor and Master degree, Electrical and Computer Engineering, National Technical University of Athens, 2008

Distinction and awards

  • Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellow of the Week, European Commission, 2023
  • Outstanding female academic by Swiss National Science Foundation, Swiss National Science Foundation, 2023
  • Unity of Women and Science, Spanish Ministry of Science, 2023
  • ERC Starting Grant Research Highlights, European Research Council, 2022
  • Marie Skłodowska Curie Actions ambassador, European Commission, 2018

Supervisor

  • T Stephani, 2024
  • A Hoffmann, 2024
  • N Cemeljic, 2023
  • Z Xiong, 2023
  • Leonie Seidel, 2022
  • X Job, 2020

Visiting research fellowships

  • Postdoc Cognitive Neuroscience, Karolinska Institute

Thesis evaluation

  • S Abagnale, Opponent, Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Università degli Studi della Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, 2024
  • M Azaroual, Opponent, Inserm, 2024
  • J Rudolph, Examination board member, Radboud University Nijmegen, 2024
  • N Paraskevoudi, Opponent, University of Barcelona, 2022

Other expert reviewer/evaluation assignment

  • Evaluator of major research grant applications in local competition, Dutch Research Council, 2024
  • Evaluator of major research grant applications in local competition, KID PhD grant evaluator, Karolinska Institute, 2023
  • Evaluator of research applications in national competition, Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale, 2023
  • Evaluator of research applications in national competition, Südtirol Research Foundation, 2021
  • Evaluator of research applications in international competition, EU Expert Project Reviewer, European Council, 2020
  • Evaluator of research applications in national competition, Israel Science Foundation, 2020
  • Evaluator of research applications in international competition, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Evaluator, European Commission, 2019
  • Evaluator of research applications in national competition, Swiss National Science Foundation, 2019

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