Research Interests : Dr. Seiji Ogawa discovered the principle upon which the field of functional and physiological imaging of the human body, particularly the human brain, is based. He searched for physiologically dependent signals in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and found BOLD (Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent) signal contrast in MR images of the brain. This work has proved to be the fundamental basis of noninvasive functional imaging methodology that is now widely used not only in many biological and medical sciences, such as neurobiology, psychology and neurology, but also in many fields of clinical medicine as diagnostic tools.
Awards and Honors : 1967 Eastman Kodak Award in Chemistry for PhD student
1995 Gold Medal Award from Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine
1996 Biological Physics Prize from The American Physical Society
1998 Nakayama Prize from Nakayama Foundation for Human Science, Japan
1999 Asahi Prize from The Asahi Shimbun Cultural Foundation, Japan
2003 Japan Prize from the Science and Technology Foundation of Japan
Member of International Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine
Member of Society for Neuroscience
Selected Publications : S. Ogawa, H. M. McConnell and R. Horowitz, "Overlapping Conformation Changes in Spin-Label Hemoglobin", Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. (USA), 61: 401-405 (1968).
R. G. Shulman, S. Ogawa, K. Wurthrich, T. Yamane, J. Peisach and W. E. Blumberg, "Absence of "Heme-Heme" Interaction in Hemoglobin", Science, 165: 251-257 (1969).
S. Ogawa and R. G. Shulman, "High Resolution Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectra of Hemoglobin:III The Half Ligated State and Allosteric Interaction", J. Mol. Biol., 70: 314-335 (1972).
S. Ogawa, T. M. Lee, A. S. Nayak and P. Glynn, "Oxygenation Sensitive Contrast in Magnetic Resonance Image of Rodent Brain at High Magnetic Fields", Magn. Reson. Med., 14: 68-78 (1990).
S. Ogawa, T. M. Lee, A. R. Kay and D. W. Tank, "Brain Magnetic Resonance Imaging with Contrast Dependent on Blood Oxygenation", Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. (USA), 87: 9868-9872 (1990).
S. Ogawa, D. W. Tank, R. Menon, J. M. Ellermann, S.-G. Kim, H. Merkle and K. Ugurbil, "Intrinsic Signal Changes Accompanying Sensory Stimulation: Functional BrainMapping With Magnetic Resonance Imaging", Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. (USA), 89: 5951-5955 (1992).
W. Denk, R. M. Keolian, S. Ogawa and L. W. Jelinski, "Oscillatory Flow in the Cochlea Visualized by Novel Magnetic Resonance Imaging Technique", Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. (USA), 90: 1595 - 1598 (1993).
S. Ogawa, R. S. Menon, D. W. Tank, S-G. Kim, H. Merkle, J. M. Ellermann and K. Ugurbil, "Functional Brain Mapping by Blood Oxygenation Level-Dependent Contrast Magnetic Resonance Imaging: A Comparison of Signal Characteristics with a Biophysical Model", Biophysical Journal, 64: March (1993).
P. P. Mitra, S. Ogawa, X. Hu and K. Ugurbil, "The Nature of Spatiotemporal Changes in Cerebral Hemodynamics as Manifested in Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging",Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 37: 511-518 (1997).
Seiji Ogawa, Tso-Ming Lee, Ray Stepnoski, Wei Chen, Xiao-Hong Zhu, and Kamil Ugurbil, "An approach to probe some neural systems interaction by functional MRI at neural time scale down to milliseconds", Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci.(USA), 97: 11026-11031(2000).
OGAWA, SEIJI 