Biomedical Researcher Peter Morgane, Ph.D.: A Biography
Professor Peter Morgane, Ph.D., a dedicated faculty member and researcher in the University of New England College of Osteopathic Medicine's pharmacology department since 1985, died September 27, 2010 after a brief illness.
Dr. Morgane received his B.S. in zoology from Tulane University and his M.S. and Ph.D. in physiology from Northwestern University. He enjoyed a long career in research, working at many institutions, including The Brain Research Institute, The Worcester Foundation for Experimental Biology and the University of New England.
He joined UNE as a part-time independent contractor in 1985. While living in Massachusetts, he and his wife, Cécile, summered in Maine and loved it enough to eventually move here, and his relationship with UNE expanded.
UNE dean of the College of Osteopathic Medicine and vice president for health affairs, Marc B. Hahn, DO, states, "The recruitment of Dr. Morgane to the UNE College of Osteopathic Medicine campus in 1986 heralded in a new era of research productivity and advancement in the neurosciences. Over the years, Dr. Morgane's international reputation has resulted in the recruitment of new outstanding researchers, advanced the understanding of brain function and raised the visibility of UNE and the medical school."
Dr. Morgane's research, which focused on the limbic system of the brain, sleep physiology, neural regulation of energy balance, and anatomy of whale brains in an evolutionary context, garnered over $5 million in grant funding from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation.
Additionally, Dr. Morgane published extensively in peer-reviewed journals, with more than 240 full papers appearing in journals including Cortex, Experimental Neurology, Brain Research, Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, Experimental Brain Research and Journal für Hirnforschung. He also co-authored the four-volume Handbook of the Hypothalamus and 18 chapters in nervous system textbooks.
Timothy Ford, Ph.D., UNE vice president for research and dean of graduate studies, says, "Sometimes we get too involved in the 'fine print' of a life in research, but what Peter always made me realize was that it means nothing if we fail to disseminate new knowledge - 'Publish or Perish,' the old adage that Peter so accurately and appropriately represented. We will miss his constant presence in the Cécile Morgane Research Laboratories. He will always be an integral part of UNE's vision - that through research we can improve the lives of people with neurological disease."
Until his death, Dr. Morgane continued to focus on research and lectured at UNE periodically to first- and second-year medical students on neuropharmacology and diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. He became Professor Emeritus in June 2010.
A love for the ages
Peter met his beloved wife, Cécile, while living and working in Miami, Florida. They married in New York City in 1964. They spent the next 25 years living in Shrewsbury, Mass., where she owned and operated a successful travel agency, Shrewsbury Travel, before their move to Maine full-time in 1994. He credited her with being a notable businesswoman and investor.
Philanthropy
Dr. Morgane and his late wife, Cécile, are the largest individual donors in UNE's history. He understood the importance of expanding research opportunities at the University. In 2007, he made a $1 million gift in memory of Cécile to establish the Cécile Morgane Research Laboratories at the Pickus Center for Biomedical Research. He then issued an additional $300,000 challenge, the "Morgane Challenge." He hoped his gifts would spur others, and at the time he aptly likened his support to "an enzyme in the system." It was, and the Morgane Challenge was met by over 165 donors.
The 22,000 sq. ft. structure enables students to engage in important research as part of their curriculum, builds upon the strong base of research at the College of Osteopathic Medicine, and creates opportunities for collaborative research. It also has allowed for strategic recruitment to further develop a critical mass of research faculty at the University ... a longtime vision of Dr. Morgane.
Dr. Morgane increased his support of the university with another transformational gift honoring his late wife Cécile in 2008. Peter and Cécile Morgane Hall opened in spring 2009, and houses numerous classrooms, undergraduate teaching laboratory space and offices. The 25,800-square-foot building has been crucial to the enhancement and expansion of undergraduate teaching as well as faculty and student research on the Biddeford Campus. The building includes two biology labs, two chemistry labs, two physics labs, one biochemistry lab, one genetics lab, an aquarium, an aquaculture sciences lab, as well as several small research labs.
Dr. Morgane's generosity ensures a legacy of research that will honor his memory and that of his beloved Cécile for many generations of UNE students and faculty to come.
Selected publications:
Morgane, P.J., Mokler, D.J. and Galler, J.R. Effects of prenatal protein malnutrition on the hippocampal formation. Neurosci. Biobehav. Rev. 26(4): 471-483, 2002. Mokler, D.J., Galler, J.R. and Morgane, P.J. Modulation of 5-HT release from the hippocampus of 30-day old rats exposed in utero to protein malnutrition. Dev. Brain Res. 142(2): 203-208, 2003. Morgane, P.J., Mokler, D.J. and Galler, J.R. Malnutrition, central nervous system effects. Encyclopedia of Neuroscience, Elsevier Press, 2003. Bronzino, J.D., Blaise, J.H., Mokler, D.J., Galler, J.R. and Morgane, P.J.. Modulation of paired-pulse responses in the dentate gyrus: effects of prenatal protein malnutrition. Brain Res. 849 (1-2): 45-57, 1999. Key Investigator, Neurophysiology Division, Program Project, Effects of Prenatal Protein Malnutrition on Brain Development, Nat. Inst. Child Health and Human Development.