Olga Vitek

Research interests

• Statistical and computational methods for systems-wide molecular investigations of biological organisms

Education

• PhD in Statistics, Purdue University
• MS in Mathematical Statistics, Purdue University
• BS, University of Geneva — Switzerland

Biography

Olga Vitek is the Raymond Bradford Bradstreet Professor in the Khoury College of Computer Sciences at Northeastern University, based in Boston. She is also the director of the Barnett Institute for Chemical and Biological Analysis and the former Sy and Laurie Sternberg Interdisciplinary Associate Professor.

Vitek’s lab explores synergies between statistical science and machine learning as applied to quantitative large-scale mass spectrometry-based investigations, with the goal of understanding the functioning of living organisms. The lab develops methods for statistical experimental design, detection of analyte signals in large and complex outputs produced by mass spectrometers, and causal and counterfactual inference of regulatory events among the analytes. The lab also develops widely used open-source software and educational materials, including MSstats (relative quantification of proteins in mass spectrometric experiments) and Cardinal (analysis of mass spectrometric images). The lab is the lead organizer of the educational event May Institute on Computation and Statistics for Mass Spectrometry and Proteomics.

The lab's work has earned numerous awards, including the Chan Zuckerberg Essential Open Source Software for Science Award, the Gilbert S. Omenn Computational Proteomics Award from the US Human Proteome Organization, the Excellence in Research and Creative Activity Award from Northeastern University, and the National Science Foundation's CAREER Award.

Vitek is a fellow of the American Statistical Association, a senior member of the International Society for Computational Biology, and an elected member of the Council of Human Proteome Organization (HUPO) and its US board of directors. She is associate editor of the journal Bioinformatics, and a member of the editorial advisory boards for both Molecular and Cellular Proteomics and the Journal of Proteome Research. She is president of the Boston chapter of the American Statistical Association and a former University Faculty Scholar at Purdue University.

Labs and groups

• Statistical Methods for Studies of Biomolecular Systems

Projects

Recent publications