Professor and Chair

Office: 138C Overman Hall
Phone: (419) 372-9231/2809
Email: mogawa@bgsu.edu
Personal site:  Visit

Biographical Facts
Joined the faculty in 1991
Ph.D., Northwestern University (1988)
M.S., Northwestern University (1983)
B.A., Oberlin College, Ohio (1980)

Research Interests: 
Our group is developing a new class of hybrid inorganic/biological materials possessing novel photochemical properties.  

In one project we are using the principles of “metalloprotein design” to prepare a new class of miniature metalloproteins containing luminescent Cu(I) centers.  The photophysical properties of these systems have been found to mimic many features found in natural photosynthetic reaction centers and can be used to develop new routes towards solar energy conversion.   A related project uses supramolecular coordination chemistry to direct the assembly of novel peptide structures.  We have found that such metal-mediated peptide assemblies possess a diverse range of morphologies ranging from nanometer-scale hollow spheres to nano-cylinders, making them possible candidates for drug delivery vehicles.  Thus, a central theme of our laboratory is to combine inorganic coordination chemistry/photochemistry with protein design in order to prepare new types of hybrid materials which possess potentially useful chemical properties.

Selected Publications:
Metal-mediated Peptide Assembly:  Use of Metal Coordination to Change the Oligomerization State of an α-helical Coiled-coil, Tsurkan, M. V. and Ogawa, M Y., Inorg. Chem. 2007, 46, 6849-6851.

Electron-Transfer Functionality into Synthetic Metalloproteins from the Bottom-up, (Inorganic Forum Article), Hong, J, Kharenko, O. A. and Ogawa, M. Y., Inorg. Chem. 2006, 45, 9974-9984.

Electron-Transfer Functionality of Synthetic Coiled-coil Metalloproteins,  Ogawa, M. Y., Fan, J., Fedorova, A., Hong, J. Kharenko, O. A., Kornilova, A. Y., Lasey, R. C., Xie, F. J. Braz. Chem. Soc. 2006, 17, 1516-1521.

A Miniature Cu(I) Metalloprotein Undergoes Collisional Electron-transfer in the Inverted Marcus Region, J. Hong, O. A. Kharenko, A. K. Petros, B. R. Gibney, and M. Y. Ogawa,  Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2006, 37, 6137-6140.

Cu(I) Luminescence from the Tetranuclear Cu4S4 Cofactor of a Synthetic 4-Helix Bundle O. A. Kharenko, D. C. Kennedy, B. Demeler, M. J. Maroney, and M. Y. Ogawa, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2005, 127, 7678.