Professor Dr Tivadar Tulassay

Research Priorities: Paediatrics, neonatology, nephrology
Tivadar Tulassay is a medical expert. His research focuses on the post-natal adaptation and regulation of water and electrolytes, and on hypertension in children. The gynaecologist and paediatrician also investigates kidney development in premature babies.
Tivadar Tulassay was the first to link the cause of kidney failure in newborns to respiratory failure. In the 1980s he described the regulatory role of the atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and the changes in the body’s intravascular space related to this, as well as in human ANP activity. In the late 1990s he focused on experiments with human red blood cells and their activity changes in transport proteins such as in the case of insulin-dependent diabetes or mucoviscidosis.
He and his team were able to show that the Na/K/ATPase (sodium-potassium-ATPase enzyme) activity varies according to the maturity of a newborn. This provided an explanation for digoxin sensitivity in premature babies. Digoxin is a substance used to treat heart muscle weakness. It indirectly influences the exchange of sodium and calcium ions, which then increases the heart muscle’s contraction strength. In further studies Tulassay showed that premature babies later suffer more often from chronic illnesses as young adults, such as high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes or osteoporosis.
In his current research he is investigating the negative effects of excessive salt consumption on children’s immune and cardiovascular systems, as the excess salt is stored in the body.
With his pioneering work in paediatrics, Tivadar Tulassay has developed numerous treatment options for hormonal and genetic dispositions, cardiovascular illnesses in premature babies with low birth weights, prenatal diabetes and fibrosis.