About Alexis Ostrowski
Joined the faculty in 2012
Ph.D, University of California, Santa Barbara (2010)
B.A., Occidental College (2004)
Alexis D. Ostrowski, Ph.D.
Professor, Associate Dean
511 Physical Sciences Laboratory Building
419-372-2809
alexiso@bgsu.edu
Research Interests:
Our research is inspired by the interactions of metal ions in natural systems. We focus on the fundamental photochemistry of metal-coordination interactions in polymers and are also interested in understanding how the photochemical reactions of contribute to metal ion cycling in the watershed. In addition, we use this photochemistry as inspiration, creating new photo-responsive materials. We use coordination complexes, biopolymers, and nanoparticles to design the photo-responsive materials. We have designed photoresponsive materials for wastewater treatment and sustainable bioplastics, and are investigating how the metal ion coordination affects degradation and mechanical properties of the materials. We are also interested in how these biodegradable materials can influence nutrient cycling, plant growth, and microbial communities at the agricultural/watershed interface, particularly in coastal systems like the Great Lakes.
Topics of interest:
photochemistry, materials science, coordination chemistry, polymer synthesis, metals in biology, nanoparticle assembly, biomaterials
Graduate students:
Fatima Naser Aldine (she/her): 2023-present
Shaya Khosravibavandpoori (she/her): 2023-present
Sayani Nimanka (she/her): 2026-present
Undergraduate students:
Lucy Busselle (she/her): 2024-present
Maile Prater (she/her): 2025-present
Graduate:
Ebenezer Adom Mensah (he/him): MS awarded, 2025
Rahimon Naher (she/her): MS student, 2025
Dr. Irene Baraza (she/her), PhD Awarded 2025
Cori Byrge (she/her), MS Biology student 2020-2023
Shabna Nazim, MS awarded 2023
Dr. Ankit Dara, PhD awarded 2023
Dr. Carina Haddad, PhD awarded 2022
Dr. Kalani Edirisinghe, PhD awarded 2022
Dr. Jayan Karunarathna, PhD awarded 2020
Dr. Travis Green, PhD awarded 2020
Dr. Anton Razgoniaev, PhD awarded 2017
Dr. Giuseppe Giammanco, PhD awarded 2016
Dayana Muizzi, MS awarded 2015
Undergraduate:
Khang Van (he/him): 2025
Ellis Harlan Puthoff: BS Forensic Sciences awarded 2023; 2022-2023
Hope Brown: BS Chemistry awarded 2021; 2020-2021
Derek Mast: BS Chemistry awarded 2019; Summer-Fall 2019
Kerri Bailey: BS Biochemistry awarded 2019, 2018- 2019
Rachel Bianculli: BS Chemistry awarded 2018, 2017-2018
Zachery Hatten, BGSU, BS Chemistry awarded 2018, 2017-2018
Jacob Medina, Summer intern from St. Marys, Summer 2017
Jackson Chory: BGSU undergrad, 2015-2017
Bethany Abbott: BGSU undergrad, Summer 2016
Kirill Mikhalov, summer intern from St. Petersburg, Russia; Summer 2015, 2016
Ivan Mosiagin, summer intern from St. Petersburg, Russia; Summer 2016
Erin Kielmeyer, Chemistry major, BGSU; 2015-2016
Joshua Chaffins, Chemistry major, BGSU; Summer 2015
Jon Mase, BS Biochemistry awarded 2015; 2013-2015
Chris Sosnofsky, BS Biochemistry awarded 2015; 2013-2015
CJ Reed, BS Chemistry awarded 2015; Fall 2014
Filipp Obrezkov, summer intern from St. Petersburg, Russian Federation; Summer 2014
Polymers + Photochemistry
Photoresponsive materials for nitric oxide release
In collaboration with the Furgal Materials Workshop, our group is designing new photoresponsive silsesquioxane materials that release NO after light irradiation. We are particularly focused on creating materials with controlled release after NIR light irradiation. This project is funded by the NIH.
A Bioinorganic approach to photoresponsive bioplastics
We are currently working to use plant-derived polymers-specifically those typically thought of as waste products- and metal coordination bonding, to create new materials with advanced mechanical properties (stiffness, elasticity) that mimic the hierarchical structure found in nature. We are designing these materials to be robust enough for packaging, but biodegradable enough to decompose completely in a landfill or compost conditions.
Dynamics and photochemistry in metallopolymer materials
We are creating supramolecular materials that rely on metal-coordination bonding interactions to give them unique photochemistry and mechanical properties. This project is currently focused on understanding how changes in metal coordination bonding dynamics can be used to sense mechanical property changes in the materials.
Biogeochemistry of Fe(III)-polysaccharide hydrogels
In collaboration with BGSU’s Center for Great Lakes Center and Watershed Studies, we are investigating the biogeochemistry of Fe(III)-polysaccharide hydrogels in both soil and water, including how they can be used for recycling of nutrients like phosphate to prevent nutrient run-off.
Publications
From 2025:
E.A.K.D. Edirisinghe; M.J. Ayodele; S. Saeedi; A.M. Brugh; M.D.E. Forbes; T.A. White; A.D. Ostrowsk; “Reversible photochemistry in vanadium (V) tartrate clusters containing a mixed-valent intermediate”
Naser Aldine F, Muizzi DA, Baraza IF, Furgal JC, Ostrowski AD. Tuning Quantum Yield to Maximize Nitric Oxide Release Under Red and NIR Light in Photoresponsive Ruthenium Salen Materials . ChemRxiv. 2025; doi:10.26434/chemrxiv-2025-hgplj
Older:
Edirisinghe, E.A.K.D.; Haddad, C.; Ostrowski, A.D; “Controlled and Photopatterning of Mechanical properties in polysaccharide hydrogels using vanadium coordination and photochemistry” ACS Applied Bio Materials, 2022, 5, 10, 4827 DOI: 10.1021/acsabm.2c00529
Dara, A.; Mast, D. M.; Razgoniaev, A.O.; Hauke, C.; Castellano, F. N.; Ostrowski, A.D; “Real-time and in situ viscosity monitoring in industrial adhesives using luminescent Cu(I) phenanthroline molecular sensors” ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 2022, 14, 29, 33976–33983 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.2c06554
Haddad, C.; Edirisinghe, E.A.K.D.; Brown, H. M; Ostrowski, A.D; “Photoreactivity and enhanced mechanical properties and water stability in polysaccharide based films using vanadium ion coordination” ACS Applied Polymer Materials, 2022, 4, 2, 859–867 DOI: 10.1021/acsapm.1c01371
Karunarathna, M. H. J. S; Linhart, A.; Giammanco, G.E.; Norton, A.; Chory, J.; Keleher, J. ; Ostrowski, A.D.; “Harnessing Fe(III)-carboxylate photochemistry for radical initiated polymerization in hydrogels” ACS Applied Bio Materials, 2021, 4, 7, 5765–5775 DOI: 10.1021/acsabm.1c00525
A. Butler; T. Harder; A.D. Ostrowski; C.J Carrano. “Photoactive Siderophores; Structure Function and Biology” J Inorg Biochem, 2021, DOI: 10.1016/j.jinorgbio.2021.111457
M.J. Ayodele; T.C. Green; W.A.C.V. Warsapperuma; M.D.E. Forbes; A. D. Ostrowski; “Synthesis and crystal structure of catena-poly[[tetra-μ-acetato-copper(II)]-μ-6-ethoxy-N2,N4-bis[2-(pyridin-2-yl)ethyl]-1,3,5-triazine-2,4-diamine]” Acta Crystallographica E, 2021, 77, 319-323 DOI
Karunarathna, M. H. J. S.; Ayodele, M. J.; Giammanco, G. E.; Brugh, A. M.; Muizzi, D. A.; Bauman, M. A.; Torelli, A. T.; Alabanza, A. M.; Forbes, M. D. E.; Ostrowski, A. D. “Fe(III)-Polyuronic Acid Photochemistry: Radical Chemistry in Natural Polysaccharides.” Photochemical and Photobiological Sciences, 2021, 20, 255–263 DOI: 10.1007/s43630-021-00014-0
Karunarathna, M. H. J.; Bailey, K. M.; Ash, B.; Matson, P.G.; Wildschutte, H.; Davis, T.; Midden, W. R.; Ostrowski, A.D.; “Nutrient capture from aqueous waste and photo-controlled fertilizer delivery to tomato plants using Fe(III)–polysaccharide hydrogels”, ACS Omega 2020, 5, 36, 23009–23020 DOI:/10.1021/acsomega.0c02694
Green, T.C.; Gresh, R.; Cochran, D.; Crobar, K.; Blass, P.; Ostrowski, A.D.; Campbell, D.; Xie, C.; Torelli, A.; “Invisibility Cloaks and Hot Reactions: Applying Infrared Thermography in the Chemistry Education Laboratory” J. Chem. Ed. 2020, 97, 710-718 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.9b00789
Karunarathna, M. H. J.; Hatten, Z.; Bailey, K.; Lewis, E.; Morris, A.; Kolk, A.; Laib, J.; Tembo, N.; Williams, R.; Phillips, B.; Ash, B.; Midden, W. R.; Ostrowski, A.D.; “Reclaiming phosphate from waste solutions with Fe(III) –polysaccharide hydrogel beads for photo-controlled-release fertilizer” Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2019, 67, 12155-12163 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.9b02860* front cover article
M.Y. Livshits, A.O. Razgoniaev, R.C. Arbulu, J. Shin, B.J. McCullough , Y.Qin, A. D. Ostrowski, J.J. Rack; “Generating Photonastic Work from Irradiated Dyes in Electrospun Nanofibrous Polymer Mats” ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 2018, 10, 37470–37477, DOI: 10.1021/acsami.8b11294
A.O Razgoniaev; K.I. Mikhailov; F.A. Obrezkov; E.V. Butaeva; A. D. Ostrowski; “Supramolecular Elastomers: Switchable Mechanical Properties and Tuning Photohealing with Changes in Supramolecular Interactions” Journal of Polymer Science: Polymer Chemistry, 2018, 56, 1003-1011 DOI: 10.1002/pola.28972
25.) H. Auerbach; G.E. Giammanco; V. Schünemann; A. D. Ostrowski; C.J. Carrano “Mössbauer Spectroscopic Characterization of Iron (III)-Polysaccharide Coordination Complexes: Photochemistry, Biological and Photoresponsive Materials Implications” Inorganic Chemistry, 2017, 56, 11524, DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.7b00686
24.) A. O. Razgoniaev; C. E. McCusker; F. N. Castellano; A. D. Ostrowski “Restricted Photoinduced Conformational Change in Cu(I) Complex for Sensing Mechanical Properties” ACS Macro Letters, 2017, 6, 920-244 , DOI: 10.1021/acsmacrolett.7b00465
23.) Moroz, P.; Razgoniaeva, N.; Vore, A.; Eckard, H.; Kholmicheva, N.; McDarby, A.; Razgoniaev, A.; Ostrowski, A.D.; Khon, D.; Zamkov, M. “Plasmon Induced Energy Transfer: When the Game is worth the Candle” ACS Photonics, 2017, 4, 2290 DOI: 10.1021/acsphotonics.7b00527
22.)J. Storer; J. Chao; A.T. Torelli; A.D. Ostrowski “KnoWare: A System for Citizen-based Environmental Monitoring” Informing Science: the International Journal of an Emerging Transdiscipline, 2016, 19,125-139 full text
21.) G.E. Giammanco; B.Carrion; R.M. Coleman; A.D. Ostrowski “Photoresponsive Polysaccharide-based Hydrogels with Tunable Mechanical Properties for Cartilage Tissue Engineering”, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces, 2016, 8, 14423-14429 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.6b03834
20.) A.O.Razgoniaev; E.V.Butaeva; A.V. Iretskii; A.D. Ostrowski “Changing mechanical strength in Cr(III)-metallosupramolecular polymers with ligands and light”, Inorganic Chemistry, 2016, 55, 5430-5437 DOI: 10.1021/acs.inorgchem.6b00422
19.) G.E. Giammanco; A.D. Ostrowski “Photo-Patterning the mechanical properties of Polysaccharide-containing gels using Fe3+ coordination”, Chemistry of Materials, 2015, 27, 4922-4925, DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemmater.5b01727
18.) G.E. Giammanco; C.T. Sosnofsky; A.D. Ostrowski “Light-responsive Iron(III)-Polysaccharide Coordination hydrogels for controlled delivery” ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 2015, 7, 3068-3076 DOI: 10.1021/am506772x
17.) N. Razgoniaeva; S. Lambright; N. Sharma; A. Acharya; E. Khon; P. Moroz; A.O. Razgoniaev; A.D. Ostrowski; M. Zamkov; “Exciton Generation in Semiconductor Nanocrystals via the Near-Field Plasmon Energy Transfer” J. Phys. Chem. C 2015, DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.5b04608
16.) J.D. Mase; A.O. Razgoniaev; M.K. Tschirhart; A.D. Ostrowski “Light- controlled release of nitric oxide from solid polymer composite materials using visible and near infra-red light,” Photochemical and Photobiological Sciences 2015, 14, 775-785 DOI: 10.1039/C4PP00441H
15.) N.N. Kholmicheva; P. Moroz; U. Rijal; E. Bastola; P. Uprety; G. Liyanage; A.O. Razgoniaev; A.D. Ostrowski; M. Zamkov; “Plasmonic nanocrystal solar cells utilizing strongly confined radiation” ACS Nano 2014, 8, 12549-12559, DOI: 10.1021/nn505375n
14.) A. Pierri; D. A. Muizzi; A.D. Ostrowski; P.C. Ford “Photo-controlled release of NO and CO with metal complexes,” Structure and Bonding, 2014, DOI: 10.1007/430_2014_164
13.) D. J. Gargas; E. M. Chan; A. D. Ostrowski; B. A. Sanii; E. S. Barnard; A. Nievergelt; S.A. Aloni; D.A. Milliron; B.E. Cohen; P.J. Schuck “Engineering Bright Sub-10-nm Upconverting Nanocrystals for Single-Molecule Imaging,” Nature Nanotechnology 2014, 9, 300-305. DOI:10.1038/nnano.2014.29
12.) E. M. Chan; G. Han; J. D. Goldberg; D. J. Gargas; A. D. Ostrowski; P. J. Schuck; B. E. Cohen; D. J. Milliron; ” Combinatorial discovery of lanthanide-doped nanocrystals with spectrally pure upconverted emission,” Nano Lett 2012, 12, 3839–3845. DOI: 10.1021/nl3017994
11.) A. D. Ostrowski; E. M. Chan; D. J. Gargas; E. M. Katz; G. Han; P.J. Schuck; D.J. Milliron; B.E.Cohen. “Controlled synthesis and single particle imaging of bright, sub-10 nm lanthanide-doped upconverting nanocrystals,” ACS Nano 2012, 6, 2686–2692. DOI: 10.1021/nn300073
10.) A. D. Ostrowski; B.F.Lin; M.V.Tirrell; P.C.Ford. “Liposome encapsulation of a photochemical NO precursor for controlled nitric oxide release and simultaneous fluorescence imaging,” Molecular Pharmaceutics, 2012, 9, 2950-2955. DOI: 10.1021/mp300139y
9.) P.T. Burks; A.D. Ostrowski; A.A. Mikhailovsky; E.M. Chan; P.S. Wagenknecht; P. C. Ford. “Quantum Dot Photoluminescence Quenching by Cr(III) Complexes. Photosensitized Reactions and Evidence for a FRET Mechanism,” JACS 2012, 134, 13266–13275. DOI: 10.1021/ja300771w
8.) A. D. Ostrowski; R.O. Absalonson; M. A. De Leo; G. Wu; J. G. Pavlovich; J. Adamson; A. V. Iretskii; I. L. Megson; P. C. Ford. “The Photochemistry of trans-Cr(cyclam)(ONO)2+, a Nitric Oxide Precursor,” Inorg. Chem. 2011, 50, 4453–4462. DOI: 10.1021/ic200094x
7.) A. D. Ostrowski; S. J. Deakin; B. Azhar; T. W. Miller; N. Franco; M. M. Cherney; A. J. Lee; J. N. Burstyn; J. M. Fukuto; I. L. Megson; P. C. Ford. “Nitric Oxide Photogeneration from trans-Cr(cyclam)(ONO)2+ in a Reducing Environment. Activation of Soluble Guanylyl Cyclase and Arterial Vasorelaxation,” J. Med. Chem. 2010, 53, 715–727. DOI: 10.1021/jm9013357
6.) A. D. Ostrowski and P. C. Ford. “Metal complexes as photochemical nitric oxide precursors: Potential applications in the treatment of tumors.” Dalton Trans., 2009, 10660 – 10669. DOI: 10.1039/B912898K
5.) A. D. Ostrowski; T. Martin, J. Conti; I. Hurt; B. H. Harthorn. “Nanotoxicology: characterizing the scientific literature, 2000–2007,” J. Nano. Res., 2009, 11, 251-257. DOI: 10.1007/s11051-008-9579-5
4.) D. Neuman; A. D. Ostrowski; A. A. Mikhailovsky; R. O. Absalonson; G. F. Strouse; P. C. Ford. “Quantum Dot Fluorescence Quenching Pathways with Cr(III) Complexes. Photosensitized NO Production from trans-Cr(cyclam)(ONO)2+,” JACS, 2008, 130, 168. DOI: 10.1021/ja074164s
3.) D. Neuman; A. D. Ostrowski; R. O. Absalonson; G. F. Strouse; P. C. Ford. “Photosensitized NO Release from Water Soluble Nanoparticle Assemblies,” JACS, 2007, 129, 4146-4147. DOI: 10.1021/ja070490w
2.) R. E. Anderson; A. D. Ostrowski; D. E. Gran; J. D. Fowler; A. R. Hopkins; R. M. Villahermosa. “Diameter-Controlled Synthesis of Polyaniline Nanofibers,” Polymer Bulletin, 2008, 61, 563-568. DOI: 10.1007/s00289-008-0983-x
1.) R. M. Villahermosa and A. D. Ostrowski. “Chemical analysis of silicone outgassing,”. Proc. SPIE 2008, 7069, 706906. DOI: 10.1117/12.802311
Updated: 04/14/2026 04:35PM