Maud Menten

Maud Menten

Maud Leonora Menten (March 20, 1879, Ontario – July 26, 1960, Ontario) was a Canadian medical scientist who made significant contributions to enzyme kinetics and histochemistry. Her name is associated with the famous Michaelis-Menten equation in biochemistry.

Maud Menten was born in Port Lambton, Ontario and studied medicine at the University of Toronto (B.A. 1904, M.B. 1907, M.D. 1911). She was among the first women in Canada to earn a medical doctorate. She completed her thesis work at University of Chicago. At that time women were not allowed to do research in Canada, so she decided to do research in other countries such as the United States and Germany.

In 1912 she moved to Berlin where she worked with Leonor Michaelis, obtaining a Ph.D. in 1916. Menten worked as a pathologist at the University of Pittsburgh (1923–1950)^[1] and as a research fellow at the British Columbia Medical Research Institute (1951–1953).^[2]

Her most famous work was on enzyme kinetics together with Michaelis, based on earlier findings of Victor Henri. This resulted in the Michaelis-Menten equations. Menten also invented the azo-dye coupling reaction for alkaline phosphatase, which is still used in histochemistry. She characterised bacterial toxins from B. paratyphosus, Streptococcus scarlatina and Salmonella ssp.) and conducted the first electrophoretic separation of proteins in 1944. She worked on the properties of hemoglobin, regulation of blood sugar level, and kidney function. Despite suffering from arthritis she was also an accomplished musician and painter;^[3] there were several exhibitions of her paintings.

References

1. ^ Menten, M. (1919). "A Study of the Oxidase Reaction with alpha-Naphthol and Paraphenylenediamine". The Journal of medical research 40 (3): 433–458.3. PMC 2104435. PMID 19972493. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&artid=2104435.  edit
2. ^ Menten, M.; McCloskey, G. (1951). "Histopathology and Etiology of Pneumonia in Children Dying after Antibacterial Therapy". The American journal of pathology 27 (3): 477–491. PMC 1937251. PMID 19970982. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&artid=1937251.  edit
3. ^ JCE Online: Biographical Snapshots: Snapshot

External links

• Canadian Medical Hall of Fame – brief biography with photo and video

Persondata
Name	Menten, Maud
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	March 20, 1879
Place of birth
Date of death	July 26, 1960
Place of death