Heiko Braak
Heiko Braak is a German anatomist. Braak was born in Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein, and studied medicine at the universities of Hamburg, Berlin, and Kiel. He was Professor at the Institute of Clinical Neuroanatomy, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University, Frankfurt am Main. Currently he is based at the 'Clinical Neuroanatomy Section, Department of Neurology, Center for Biomedical Research, University of Ulm, Germany.
Braak's early research focused on the morphology of the central nervous system of chondrichthyan fishes. In the holocephalan species Chimaera monstrosa, he described, in the basal midline of the diencephalon, a previously unknown ependymall structure adjacent to the rostral part of the optic chiasma referred to as the ‘organon vasculare praeopticum’. It may be considered homologous to the supraoptic crest of mammals. Braak also described the morphology of the neurohypophysial complex of the squaliform elasmobranch Etmopterus spinax.
Braak’s further research has focused on the morphology and pathoanatomy of the human central nervous system, in particular of the cerebral cortex.
Braak's early research focused on the morphology of the central nervous system of chondrichthyan fishes. In the holocephalan species Chimaera monstrosa, he described, in the basal midline of the diencephalon, a previously unknown ependymall structure adjacent to the rostral part of the optic chiasma referred to as the ‘organon vasculare praeopticum’. It may be considered homologous to the supraoptic crest of mammals. Braak also described the morphology of the neurohypophysial complex of the squaliform elasmobranch Etmopterus spinax.
Braak’s further research has focused on the morphology and pathoanatomy of the human central nervous system, in particular of the cerebral cortex.
