Zoltan Nagy Oltvai, MD
Associate Professor of Pathology

Dr. Oltvai is a staff pathologist in the Division of Clinical Microbiology. He is also a faculty member of the Interdisciplinary Biomedical Science Graduate Program, the Medical Scientist Training Program, the Cellular and Molecular Pathology Graduate Training Program, and the Joint CMU-Pitt PhD Program in Computational Biology.

Office Location:
Rm. S701 Scaife Hall
3550 Terrace St.
Pittsburgh, PA 15213 		Contact Information:
Office Telephone: 412-383-7408
Lab Telephone: 412-648-8519
Fax: 412-383-9594
Email: oltvai@pitt.edu

Education

  • MD - Semmelweiss Medical University, Budapest

Clinical Expertise

Molecular Diagnostics (hereditary diseases, infectious diseases, hematologic malignancies)

Research Interests

Biomedical research today is conducted largely in the context of an established paradigm that is fundamentally reductionist in nature. Yet, despite the enormous success of this approach, it is increasingly clear that discrete biological function and the astounding complexity of living systems cannot be understood by studying individual molecules. Instead, most biological characteristics arise from complex interactions among the cell's numerous molecular constituents. Thus, a key challenge for 21st century biology is to understand the structure and the dynamics of the complex intracellular web of interactions among the various types of molecules that contribute to the function and the physical entity of a living cell. Together with our collaborators, our laboratory focuses on the understanding of the system-level organization of cellular metabolism, and how environmental cues are processed through regulatory pathways leading to rearranged metabolic activities. In the long run, we are also interested in applying this knowledge to improved disease diagnosis and treatment.

Certifications

Clinical Pathology, 1998 (The American Board of Pathology)

Specialties

Molecular Diagnostics, Pathology Informatics

Selected Publications

View Dr. Oltvai's publications on PubMed

  • Macromolecular crowding explains overflow metabolism in cells. Vazquez A, Oltvai ZN. Sci Rep. 6:31007, 2016
  • Cell-cell communication enhances bacterial chemotaxis toward external attractants. Long Z, Quaife B, Salman H, Oltvai ZN. Sci Rep. 7:12855, 2017
  • Quantitative assessment of cell fate decision between autophagy and apoptosis. Liu B, Oltvai ZN, Bay?r H, Silverman GA, Pak SC, Perlmutter DH, Bahar I. Sci Rep. 7:17605, 2017
  • Biomarker identification for statin sensitivity of cancer cell lines. Raghu VK, Beckwitt CH, Warita K, Wells A, Benos PV, Oltvai ZN. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 495: 659-665, 2018