Hans-Joachim Merker

Hans-Joachim Merker (born October 7, 1929 in Merseburg , † August 17, 2014 ) was a German anatomist and professor at the Free University of Berlin .

Life

Origin and education

Merker was the son of the doctor Rudolph Merker and his wife Hertha, b. Stelling.

He grew up in a rural area in Frankleben near Merseburg, where his father practiced. There he went to elementary school before he switched to the cathedral high school in Merseburg. Here he passed his Abitur at the end of 1947. His career aspiration was clear from the start: medicine. Because of his academic background, admission to the university was not possible in the Soviet occupation zone . So he began training as a nurse. In 1948 he was admitted to study at the new Free University of Berlin, but only for the subjects of archeology and art history. He switched to medicine in 1950 and passed the state examination in 1956. Merker completed his compulsory assistantship at the Martin Luther Hospital in Berlin-Schmargendorf in the subjects of surgery, internal medicine and gynecology.

academic career

From 1957 he worked at the Anatomical Institute of the Free University of Berlin in Willy Schwarz's department. He received his doctorate in 1958, followed by his habilitation in 1964, and in 1968 he was appointed associate professor. In 1972 he took over the chair himself. From 1980 to 1981 he was chairman of the department (dean). In 1998 he retired.

Merker has authored more than 250 publications, written three books and edited five. He also worked as a reviewer for the journals Teratology and Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Archives of Pharmacology .

death

Hans-Joachim Merker died in 2014 at the age of 84. His grave is in the St.-Annen-Kirchhof in Berlin-Dahlem .

research

The first own work concerned the connective tissue as well as the effect and lack of magnesium . This development was interrupted by a one-year research stay in Israel in 1965 at the Weizmann Institute for research into familial Mediterranean fever . In the following years stays in England and Sweden took place. The main topics from 1968 to 1995 were: The elucidation of the development and suitability of the common marmoset monkey (Callithrix jacchus) for teratological studies, the problems of physiological and teratogenically induced cell death and the elucidation of many teratogenic embryonic damage. He regarded the collaboration with the ENT clinic as a "free choice". In his later work, the focus was on the problems of epithelio - mesenchymal interactions and the boundary layer ( basement membrane ) between the two tissues .

Publications

As an author

• Köpf - Maier and Merker: Electron microscopic atlas. Blackwell Science, Berlin 1989, ISBN 978-3894120542 .
• Staudt and Merker: Anatomy for medical auxiliary professions. W. de Gruyter, Berlin 1989.
• Dennhardt, Merker et al .: Anatomy for anesthetists. Blackwell, Berlin 1990, ISBN 978-3894121013 .

As editor

• Risk assessment of prenatally - induced adverse health effects (with Neubert, Kavlock and Klein). Springer, Berlin et al. 1992.
• Methods in prenatal toxicology (with Neubert and Kwasigroch). G. Thieme, Stuttgart 1977.
• Teratology of the limbs (with others). W. de Gruyter, Berlin 1981.
• Culture techniques (with Neubert). W. de Gruyter, Berlin 1981.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Hans-Jürgen Mende: Lexicon of Berlin burial places . Pharus-Plan, Berlin 2018, ISBN 978-3-86514-206-1 , p. 563.
2. ↑ History of Anatomy at the Free University of Berlin ( Memento of the original from April 16, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed September 14, 2014 
3. ^ Mende: Lexicon of Berlin burial sites . P. 563.