Maud Menten

 Maud Menten

“She who had a vision, enthusiasm, and compassion.”

Born in the year 1879 in Port Lambton Ontario, Maud Menten became a scientist of many wonders, with one of the most famous names in Biochemistry. After earning her medical degree at the University of Toronto, Menten threatened to trash her medical career in exchange for another study, but thankfully decided otherwise. Had it not been for her, the equation she created that is vital to the first lessons in biochemistry would never have been founded. The equation, named for Menten and her German counterpart, Leonor Michaelis, is critical in understanding how enzymes work. The Michaelis-Menten equation has helped scientists discover methods to block enzyme reactions. 

Interestingly, the first woman said to have graduated from the University of Toronto in medicine was another successful subject… But really Menten was the first woman to get an advanced medical degree. As of today, that is now called a PhD - making her one of very few women to acquire such a degree in the presence of the masculine laboratories of the date. She completed her thesis work at the University of Chicago, as Canadian women were not allowed to do thesis work at the time, so she completed hers in both the United States and in Germany.

In 1912, Menten moved to Berlin to work with Michaelis on their equation, as well as to write a co written paper titled Biochemische Zeitscrifte. The paper stated that the rate of an enzyme catalyzed reaction is proportional to the enzyme substrate complex. The relationship between reaction rate and enzyme substrate concentration is the equation the two women came up with - The Michaelis Menten equation. 

Citations 

Government of Canada, Canadian Institutes of Health Research. “Maud Menten New Principal Investigator Prizes in Genetics.” CIHR, 21 Feb. 2020, cihr-irsc.gc.ca/e/51348.html. 

“Maud Leonora Menten.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., www.britannica.com/biography/Maud-Leonora-Menten.