The Michaelis Menton equation - Maud Leonora Menton

I am lecturing this term on our Gastrointestinal System Module. Lots and lots of lovely biochemistry for our students to discover, learn and for me to teach! Many, many enzymes - and this is where our students learn about the details of enzyme action, regulation and how to measure or assay enzymes. Again, this year I was preparing for the task of explaining and deriving the Michaelis-Menton equation. This equation forms the basics of enzyme kinetics and is useful to understand.

In my wanderings about the internet to see if I could find a number of different ways to present this overarching equation I suddenly found myself looking at the picture below - Maud Leonora Menton. I read on, and I encourage you to do the same. That an individual who came from an ordinary background could have made such a huge contribution to science at that time is impressive, how she did this as a woman is testament to the thirst for scientific knowledge that can exist within a person. 

Her work includes the above equation, the azo-dye coupling reaction used for Alkaline phosphatase that we still use today, the electrophoretic mobility of haemoglobins and also work on the relationship of blood pH with cancer.

 

Maud Leonora Menton

Born	20 March 1879
Died	July 26, 1960 (aged 81) Leamington, Ontario, Canada
Nationality	Canadian
Known for	Michaelis-Menten equation, contributions to enzyme kinetics and histochemistry
Scientific career
Institutions	University of Toronto, Canada Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research, US New York Infirmary for Women and Children, US University of Berlin, Germany She also went to the University Of Pittsburgh University of Chicago, US University of Pittsburgh, US British Columbia Medical Research Institute, Canada
Thesis	The Alkalinity of the Blood in Malignancy and Other Pathological Conditions; Together with Observations on the Relation of the Alkalinity of the Blood to Barometric Pressure (1916)