Brain Collections: Brain Collection Personnel

The University of Wisconsin (Madison)

Dr. Clinton N. Woolsey was the founder, director, and first Chairman of the Laboratory (and then Department) of Neurophysiology in the Medical School of the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin.

Curator

Wally Welker was curator of the Mammalian Brain Collection at the University of Wisconsin. He was Professor Emeritus in the Dept. of Physiology (formerly the Dept. of Neurophysiology) at UW in Madison, Wisconsin. He received his Ph D in The Psychology Dept. of the University of Chicago in 1954 (see History....); was a Postdoctoral Fellow (NIH) at the Department of Neurophysiology, joined the Faculty there in 1958 and formalized the collection of mammalian brain specimens (see History ....).

Histologists
The neurohistologists in the Department of Neurophysiology (now Physiology) have played major roles in assuring the high quality of the embedding, sectioning and staining of the brains ever since the neurohistology lab was begun in 1950.

	Helen Brandemuehl (now deceased) established the initial high standards for the laboratory, and trained most of the technicians and students who have worked there. She kept detailed protocols of procedures, routines and staining recipes that have become standard practices for all subsequent personnel in the Laboratory.
	Inge Siggelkow (recently retired) was the manager and Senior histologist of the Department of Physiology's neurohistology laboratory. She has intimate knowledge of all procedures used by her staff (Ms.'s Ekleberry and Meister, and with them, carried out all the histological procedures that were employed by her staff. She has had extensive experience and training in neurohistological procedures, and can be contacted by anyone who has questions about the procedures and techniques that have been used in preparation of the brain collections (inge@physiology.wisc.edu). Ms. Siggelkow had access to all records of procedures used for every specimen that exists in the Wisconsin Collection. She regularly maintained the remaining specimens still at Wisconsin. She actively worked with the National Museum's staff in preparing and packing brain sections and other material that have (and will be) transported to the National Museum. She helped scan digital images of brain sections from specimens that are being prepared and presented as Web-displayed brain atlases for specimens deemed of interest to researchers, students, and the public.
	Jo Ann Ekleberry, Histologist, Univ. of Wis. (now retired). Jo Ann was a devoted neurohistologist for over 26 years. She played a major role in all aspects of histological processing of brain specimens in our normal brain collection. She embedded brains involving celloidin, paraffin, frozen and plastic media. She also sectioned brains and was active in all subsequent histological processing activities, includiong staining, mounting sections on glass slides, cover-glassing the mounted sections, and adjusting the saturation, color, degree of contrast of cells and fibers to enhance visibility of neural features. She diligently cleaned all the slide and then organized all the slide boxes of each specimen and placed them in metal or wooden slide boxes which were organized all slide boxes in shelves. She also kept detailed records of all aspects about each specimen.
	Joan Meister, Histologist, Univ. of Wis. (now retired) Joan was a devoted neurohistologist for over 20 years. She played a major role in all aspects of histological processing of brain specimens in our normal brain collection. She embedded brains involving celloidin, paraffin, frozen and plastic media. She also sectioned brains and was active in all subsequent histological processing activities, including staining, mounting sections on glass slides, cover-glassing the mounted sections, and adjusting the saturation, color, degree of contrast of cells and fibers to enhance visibility of neural features. She diligently cleaned all the slide and then organized all the slide boxes of each specimen and placed them in metal or wooden slide boxes which were organized all slide boxes in shelves. She also kept detailed records of all aspects about each specimen.

Illustrator and Photographer

Carol Dizack, Senior Medical/Scientific Illustrator and Graphic Designer, Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison. Has contributed to all aspects of preparation of this Web Site. She has arranged and manipulated images of all brains, brain sections, as well as composed the illustrations which are placed at the start of each section of this electronic document, as well as others that are presented throughout the pages of this site. Ms. Dizack has a Masters Degree in Fine Art from the University of Wisconsin, as well as a Degree in Commercial Art From the Madison Area Technological College. She has been employed at the University of Wisconsin for 40 years, and is currently a Senior Illustrator/Designer in the department of Media Solutions in the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. She has been working with Wally Welker, John I. Johnson and Photographer Terril P. Stewart in preparation of illustrative materials associated with the University of Wisconsin and the Michigan State University Comparative Mammalian Brain Collections and for publications and our Web Site since the beginning of her tenure at Wisconsin. She works entirely with Macintosh computer-generated illustrations and graphics. She is responsible for all aspects of the illustrative composition of this Web site. She can be reached at her e-mail address: cldizack@wisc.edu.

Terrill P. Stewart, Senior Photographer, Distinguished Media Specialist, Univ. of Wisconsin. (now retired). was responsible for all photographic activities for the Department of Neurophysiology, as well as other Departments in the University of Wisconsin Medical School. He took the photographs of all the brain specimens and brain sections from the Wisconsin Comparative Mammalian Brain Collection. All Photographs of brains presented on this Web Site were photographed by Mr. Stewart. They were taken by standard black and white photographic techniques and colorized by Ms. Dizack using digital techniques. The photographic archives of all images of animal specimens (brain, body, and other) that comprise our brain collection were prepared by Mr. Steward and all these will be transferred to the National Museum when the remainder of the collection specimens have been moved to Washington, D.C.

Information Technologists

Ravi Kochhar, Information Processing Consultant, University of Wisconsin

Jane Sekulski, Programmer, University of Wisconsin

Kevin Graeme, former Web Publisher, University of Wisconsin

Ray Spiess, former Web Publisher, Univ.of Wisconsin

Mary Walsh, Web Designer, GreenLeaf MeDia