Heinz Wässle

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Heinz Wässle (born October 11, 1943 in Salzburg ) is emeritus director at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt am Main . He is one of the world's leading neuroanatomists and has been researching human vision for more than 20 years.

Career

Wässle first studied physics at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich , graduated there in 1968 and did research for his doctoral thesis in the field of neurobiology at the Max Planck Institute for Psychiatry in Munich until 1972 . For his studies on the interconnection of nerve cells in the human retina , he then went to London and Canberra and from 1974 to Constance . He completed his habilitation in 1978 at the University of Konstanz in the subjects of Physiological Psychology and Animal Physiology and was head of a junior research group at the Friedrich Miescher Laboratory of the Max Planck Society in Tübingen from 1977 to 1981 . Since 1981 he has been director at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt am Main , and since 1982 honorary professor at the University of Mainz .

Wässle received the Golden Brain Award in 1998 and has been a member of the Leopoldina Science Academy since 1999 .

Research topics: the eye as a window to the brain

Heinz Wässle researches the functioning of the human retina , more precisely: the synaptic circuits of the retina and their role in the transmission and processing of light sensations. Ultimately, the aim of the work is to understand at the level of individual cells or cell groups how the interaction of the retina, its subordinate nerve cells and the brain enables, for example, our color perception and our night vision. For this purpose u. a. Neurophysiological experiments carried out on cell cultures, on slices and on organ preparations of the retina, also on mutant strains of the house mouse.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ see page about Wässle in the Leopoldina membership directory
personal data
SURNAME Wässle, Heinz
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German neurologist, director at the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research in Frankfurt am Main
DATE OF BIRTH October 11, 1943
PLACE OF BIRTH Salzburg