diff --git a/brainles_preprocessing/brain_extraction/__init__.py b/brainles_preprocessing/brain_extraction/__init__.py
index 92a981b..8c97b5c 100644
--- a/brainles_preprocessing/brain_extraction/__init__.py
+++ b/brainles_preprocessing/brain_extraction/__init__.py
@@ -1 +1,6 @@
-from .brain_extractor import HDBetExtractor
+from .hd_bet import HDBetExtractor
+
+try:
+    from .synthstrip import SynthStripExtractor
+except ImportError:
+    pass
diff --git a/brainles_preprocessing/brain_extraction/brain_extractor.py b/brainles_preprocessing/brain_extraction/brain_extractor.py
index 03a716b..908982a 100644
--- a/brainles_preprocessing/brain_extraction/brain_extractor.py
+++ b/brainles_preprocessing/brain_extraction/brain_extractor.py
@@ -1,20 +1,12 @@
 # TODO add typing and docs
-import shutil
-from abc import ABC, abstractmethod
+from abc import abstractmethod, ABC
 from pathlib import Path
-from typing import Optional, Union
-from enum import Enum
+from typing import Union
 
 from auxiliary.io import read_image, write_image
-from brainles_hd_bet import run_hd_bet
 
 
-class Mode(Enum):
-    FAST = "fast"
-    ACCURATE = "accurate"
-
-
-class BrainExtractor:
+class BrainExtractor(ABC):
     @abstractmethod
     def extract(
         self,
@@ -75,67 +67,3 @@ def apply_mask(
             )
         except Exception as e:
             raise RuntimeError(f"Error writing output file: {e}") from e
-
-
-class HDBetExtractor(BrainExtractor):
-    def extract(
-        self,
-        input_image_path: Union[str, Path],
-        masked_image_path: Union[str, Path],
-        brain_mask_path: Union[str, Path],
-        mode: Union[str, Mode] = Mode.ACCURATE,
-        device: Optional[Union[int, str]] = 0,
-        do_tta: bool = True,
-        **kwargs,
-    ) -> None:
-        # GPU + accurate + TTA
-        """
-        Skull-strips images with HD-BET and generates a skull-stripped file and mask.
-
-        Args:
-            input_image_path (str or Path): Path to the input image.
-            masked_image_path (str or Path): Path where the brain-extracted image will be saved.
-            brain_mask_path (str or Path): Path where the brain mask will be saved.
-            mode (str or Mode): Extraction mode ('fast' or 'accurate').
-            device (str or int): Device to use for computation (e.g., 0 for GPU 0, 'cpu' for CPU).
-            do_tta (bool): whether to do test time data augmentation by mirroring along all axes.
-        """
-
-        # Ensure mode is a Mode enum instance
-        if isinstance(mode, str):
-            try:
-                mode_enum = Mode(mode.lower())
-            except ValueError:
-                raise ValueError(f"'{mode}' is not a valid Mode.")
-        elif isinstance(mode, Mode):
-            mode_enum = mode
-        else:
-            raise TypeError("Mode must be a string or a Mode enum instance.")
-
-        # Run HD-BET
-        run_hd_bet(
-            mri_fnames=[str(input_image_path)],
-            output_fnames=[str(masked_image_path)],
-            mode=mode_enum.value,
-            device=device,
-            # TODO consider postprocessing
-            postprocess=False,
-            do_tta=do_tta,
-            keep_mask=True,
-            overwrite=True,
-        )
-
-        # Construct the path to the generated mask
-        masked_image_path = Path(masked_image_path)
-        hdbet_mask_path = masked_image_path.with_name(
-            masked_image_path.name.replace(".nii.gz", "_mask.nii.gz")
-        )
-
-        if hdbet_mask_path.resolve() != Path(brain_mask_path).resolve():
-            try:
-                shutil.copyfile(
-                    src=str(hdbet_mask_path),
-                    dst=str(brain_mask_path),
-                )
-            except Exception as e:
-                raise RuntimeError(f"Error copying mask file: {e}") from e
diff --git a/brainles_preprocessing/brain_extraction/hd_bet.py b/brainles_preprocessing/brain_extraction/hd_bet.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..cd631ea
--- /dev/null
+++ b/brainles_preprocessing/brain_extraction/hd_bet.py
@@ -0,0 +1,76 @@
+from pathlib import Path
+from typing import Optional, Union
+import shutil
+from enum import Enum
+
+from brainles_preprocessing.brain_extraction.brain_extractor import BrainExtractor
+from brainles_hd_bet import run_hd_bet
+
+
+class Mode(Enum):
+    FAST = "fast"
+    ACCURATE = "accurate"
+
+
+class HDBetExtractor(BrainExtractor):
+    def extract(
+        self,
+        input_image_path: Union[str, Path],
+        masked_image_path: Union[str, Path],
+        brain_mask_path: Union[str, Path],
+        mode: Union[str, Mode] = Mode.ACCURATE,
+        device: Optional[Union[int, str]] = 0,
+        do_tta: bool = True,
+        **kwargs,
+    ) -> None:
+        # GPU + accurate + TTA
+        """
+        Skull-strips images with HD-BET and generates a skull-stripped file and mask.
+
+        Args:
+            input_image_path (str or Path): Path to the input image.
+            masked_image_path (str or Path): Path where the brain-extracted image will be saved.
+            brain_mask_path (str or Path): Path where the brain mask will be saved.
+            mode (str or Mode): Extraction mode ('fast' or 'accurate').
+            device (str or int): Device to use for computation (e.g., 0 for GPU 0, 'cpu' for CPU).
+            do_tta (bool): whether to do test time data augmentation by mirroring along all axes.
+        """
+
+        # Ensure mode is a Mode enum instance
+        if isinstance(mode, str):
+            try:
+                mode_enum = Mode(mode.lower())
+            except ValueError:
+                raise ValueError(f"'{mode}' is not a valid Mode.")
+        elif isinstance(mode, Mode):
+            mode_enum = mode
+        else:
+            raise TypeError("Mode must be a string or a Mode enum instance.")
+
+        # Run HD-BET
+        run_hd_bet(
+            mri_fnames=[str(input_image_path)],
+            output_fnames=[str(masked_image_path)],
+            mode=mode_enum.value,
+            device=device,
+            # TODO consider postprocessing
+            postprocess=False,
+            do_tta=do_tta,
+            keep_mask=True,
+            overwrite=True,
+        )
+
+        # Construct the path to the generated mask
+        masked_image_path = Path(masked_image_path)
+        hdbet_mask_path = masked_image_path.with_name(
+            masked_image_path.name.replace(".nii.gz", "_mask.nii.gz")
+        )
+
+        if hdbet_mask_path.resolve() != Path(brain_mask_path).resolve():
+            try:
+                shutil.copyfile(
+                    src=str(hdbet_mask_path),
+                    dst=str(brain_mask_path),
+                )
+            except Exception as e:
+                raise RuntimeError(f"Error copying mask file: {e}") from e
diff --git a/brainles_preprocessing/preprocessor/preprocessor.py b/brainles_preprocessing/preprocessor/preprocessor.py
index 2983f39..797fafe 100644
--- a/brainles_preprocessing/preprocessor/preprocessor.py
+++ b/brainles_preprocessing/preprocessor/preprocessor.py
@@ -11,10 +11,8 @@
 
 from loguru import logger
 
-from brainles_preprocessing.brain_extraction.brain_extractor import (
-    BrainExtractor,
-    HDBetExtractor,
-)
+from brainles_preprocessing.brain_extraction.brain_extractor import BrainExtractor
+from brainles_preprocessing.brain_extraction.hd_bet import HDBetExtractor
 from brainles_preprocessing.constants import PreprocessorSteps
 from brainles_preprocessing.defacing import Defacer, QuickshearDefacer
 from brainles_preprocessing.modality import CenterModality, Modality