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Eva Braak

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Eva Braak
Born(1939-11-26)November 26, 1939
Died(2000-07-25)July 25, 2000
EducationGeorg August University, Vogt Institute for Brain Research - University of Dusseldorf, University of Kiel
Occupation(s)Anatomist, professor

Eva Braak (1939-2000) was a German anatomist, mostly known for the Braak and Braak Alzheimer disease stages.[1] She was professor at the Institute of Clinical Neuroanatomy, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University, Frankfurt am Main.

Career

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Eva Braak and her husband, Heiko Braak, were in charge of a group investigating new techniques in the study of degenerative diseases of the brain[2] In the 1970s, Braak and her husband implemented and perfected the than-new silver-iodate histological technique to study relatively thick sections of whole brains, up to 150 microns.[3] Using those methods, they contributed extensively to the neuropathology of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. In 1987, Braak and her husband were the first to describe the pathological changes of argyrophilic grain disease, an unknown tauopathy which was previously marked as senile dementia.[4] A few years later, in 1991, they introduced a classification of Alzheimer's disease into six distinct pathoanatomical stages, now commonly known as Braak and Braak stages, based on the topographical distribution pattern of neurofibrillary changes from circumscribed parts of the limbic system to the higher neocortical association fields.[1] Eva Braak was the first female scientist to receive an Award for Life-time Achievements in Alzheimer's Disease Research, granted during the Sixth International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease and related Disorders, in 1998.[5]

Death

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She died of ovarian cancer on 25 August 2000 in Frankfurt am Main.[6]

References

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  1. ^ a b Braak H, Braak E (1991). "Neuropathological stageing of Alzheimer-related changes". Acta Neuropathologica. 82 (4): 239–259. doi:10.1007/BF00308809. PMID 1759558.
  2. ^ Braak, E.; Sandmann-Keil, D.; Rüb, U.; Gai WP, R.A.I (2001). "Alpha-synuclein immunopositive Parkinson's disease-related inclusion bodies in lower brain stem nuclei". Acta Neuropathologica. 101 (3): 195–201. doi:10.1007/s004010000247. ISSN 1432-0533. PMID 11307617. S2CID 6378983.
  3. ^ Braak H, Braak E (1991). "Demonstration of Amyloid Deposits and Neurofibrillary Changes in Whole Brain Sections". Brain Pathology, 1: 213-216. doi:10.1111/j.1750-3639.1991.tb00661.x.
  4. ^ Braak, H.; Braak, E. (1987). "Argyrophilic grains: characteristic pathology of cerebral cortex in cases of adult onset dementia without Alzheimer changes". Neuroscience Letters. 76 (1): 124–127. doi:10.1016/0304-3940(87)90204-7. ISSN 0304-3940. PMID 243859. S2CID 34334795.
  5. ^ (2001). Eva Braak (1939--2000). Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, 3(4), 433-434.
  6. ^ Alzheimer's Disease: Advances in Etiology, Pathogenesis and Therapeutics. Khalid Iqbal, Sangram S. Sisodia, Bengt Winblad. ISBN 978-0-470-85174-6