Faculty

Janet R. Morrow

Janet Morrow Professor and Associate Chair
Office: 526 Natural Sciences Complex
Phone: (716) 645-4187
Fax: (716) 645-6963
E-mail: jmorrow@buffalo.edu
Information on the Morrow Research Group
Information on the Morrow Research Group 2

Education:

B. S., University of California, Santa Barbara
Ph.D., University of North Carolina - Chapel Hill
NSF Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Bordeaux
Postdoctoral Fellow, University of California, San Diego
NSF Visiting Professor, University of Rochester (1996-1997)

Awards and Honors:

NIH First Award (1991-1996)
Alfred P. Sloan Fellow (1994-1996)
NSF Visiting Professor, University of Rochester (1996-1997)
Chair’s fellow, Medicinal Chemistry Gordon Research conference (2006)
Director, Research Experiences for Undergraduates Site (2004-present)
Chair, Bioinorganic chemistry section of the Inorganic division of the ACS (2005)
NSF Special Creativity Award (2007)
Elected council member, Society of Biological Inorganic chemistry (2009-2012)
Co-chair of the NSF workshop in Inorganic Chemistry (2009-present)

Specializations:

The central theme in our research is the synthesis of inorganic complexes for medicinal, diagnostic, sensing or catalytic applications.

Research Summary:

Synthesis of compounds for the recognition and cleavage of RNA and DNA
Modified and natural nucleic acids that bind metal ions
Luminescent lanthanide complexes as sensors
Responsive and targeted magnetic resonance imaging contrast agents for diagnosis of disease

Synthesis of compounds for the recognition and cleavage of RNA and DNA

One of our primary goals is to combine recognition and cleaving agents to create catalysts for probing RNA structures in vitro and in vivo. Structural biology aspects of this project are carried out in collaboration with Professor Matthew Fountain of SUNY, Fredonia. We are focusing on the following research topics:

Design of bulge-specific cleavage agents for RNA
Mapping metal ion and metallodrug binding sites in RNA and DNA by using a combination of luminescence and NMR spectroscopy.

Students working in this area become familiar with synthesis, luminescence spectroscopy and NMR spectroscopic techniques.

Hybrid nucleic acid - inorganic materials

There is much interest in the combination of nucleic acids with inorganic complexes to exploit the self-assembly and sensing and switching properties of nucleic acids with the interesting redox and spectroscopic properties of metal ions.

Our work involves the incorporation of different ligands into DNA to create materials with unique function including imaging applications.

DNA with non-nucleosidic linkers and ligand conjugates that bind metal ions
Hybrids that bind lanthanide ions for the preparation of optical/MRI probes

Students working on this project will become familiar with nucleic acid modifications, and characterization by using NMR and luminescence spectroscopy.

Luminescent lanthanide complexes as optical sensors

Lanthanide ion complexes are the premier luminescence sensors for biological applications given their long luminescence life times, resistance to photobleaching and the possibility of using multiple emission bands for ratiometric sensing.

We are investigating the application of lanthanide complexes as optical sensors for phosphate, carbonate and other anionic metabolites to prepare dual optical MRI probes.

Students involved in this project will work with a laser/MOPO system for the direct excitation of lanthanide ions, the synthesis of macrocyclic complexes for luminescence sensing and fluorescence microscopy studies in cell culture.

Responsive and targeted magnetic resonance imaging contrast agents

Paramagnetic complexes are widely used in clinical medicine as contrast agents for MRI.

Work in our laboratory centers on the development of paramagnetic lanthanide complexes that act as chemical exchange saturation transfer agents (CEST). The following projects are underway:

Lanthanide macrocyclic complexes with alcohol groups with CEST spectra that change upon anion binding.
Dinuclear lanthanide complexes with unusual recognition properties
CEST agents designed as supramolecular complexes with DNA and other polymers.

communication TOC1

Students working on this project will become familiar with macrocycle synthesis and DNA modification as well as CEST MR imaging methods.

Selected Recent Publications:

Nwe, K.; Andolina, C.; Morrow, J. R.*, “Tethered Dinuclear Eu(III) Macrocyclic Catalysts for the Cleavage of RNA”, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2008, 130, 14861-14871.
Humphrey, T.; Iyer, S.; Iranzo, O.; Morrow, J. R.; Richard, J. P.; Hengge, A. C.*, “An Altered Transition State for the Reaction of an RNA Model Catalyzed by a Dinuclear Zinc(II) Catalyst”, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2008, 130, 17858-17866.
Morrow, J. R., “Speed Limits for Artificial Nucleases”, Comments in Inorganic Chemistry, 2008, 29, 169-188.
Rossiter, C. S.; Mathews, R. A.; del Mundo, I. M. A.; Morrow, J. R.*, “Cleavage of a RNA Analog Containing Uridine by a Bifunctional Dinuclear Zn(II) Catalyst”, J. Biol. Inorg. Chem. 2009, 103, 64-71.
Huang, C.-H.; Morrow, J. R.*, “A PARACEST Agent Responsive to Inner- and Outer-Sphere Phosphate Ester Interactions for MRI Applications”, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2009, 131, 4206-4207.
Andolina, C. M.; Holthoff, W. G.; Page, P. M.; Mathews, R. A.; Morrow, J. R.*; Bright, F. V.*, “Spectroscopic System for Direct Lanthanide Photoluminescence Spectroscopy with Nanomolar Detection Limits”, Applied Spectroscopy, 2009, 63(5), 483-493.
Huang, C.-H.; Morrow, J. R.*, “Lanthanide(III) Macrocyclic Complexes with Hydroxyl Groups as Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer Agents”, Inorganic Chemistry 2009, 48, 7247-7243.
Nwe, K.; Andolina, C. M.; Morrow, J. R.*, “Dinuclear Nd(III) Complexes as Paracest Agents”, Bioconjugate Chemistry 2009, 20(7), 1375-1382.
Escudier, J.-M.*; Dupouy, C.; Fountain, M. A.; Del Mundo, I. M. A; Jacklin, E. M.; Morrow, J. R.*, “Synthesis and Luminescence Properties of a Trinucleotide-Europium(III) Complex Conjugate”, Organic & Biomolecular Chemistry 2009, 7, 3251-3257.