https://padlet.com/fiqbal2/sdb350wz2pl4 Canadian physician-scientist en-us 2017-10-22 21:46:08 UTC 2023-06-11 18:04:35 UTC hello@padlet.com fiqbal2 https://padlet.com/fiqbal2/sdb350wz2pl4/wish/199399208 Maud Menten was born in Port Lambton, Ontario and studied medicine at the University of Toronto. She was one of the first women in Canada to earn a medical doctorate. She completed her thesis work at Univerisy of Chicago. At  that time, women were not allowed to do their own research in Canada, so secured a fellowship at the Rockefeller Institute in New York where she worked on the effect an article about radioactive salts in turmours, which turned out to be the institutes first published articles. ]]> 2017-10-22 21:51:00 UTC https://padlet.com/fiqbal2/sdb350wz2pl4/wish/199399208 fiqbal2 https://padlet.com/fiqbal2/sdb350wz2pl4/wish/199400219 2017-10-22 22:02:47 UTC https://padlet.com/fiqbal2/sdb350wz2pl4/wish/199400219 fiqbal2 https://padlet.com/fiqbal2/sdb350wz2pl4/wish/199400670 2017-10-22 22:07:24 UTC https://padlet.com/fiqbal2/sdb350wz2pl4/wish/199400670 fiqbal2 https://padlet.com/fiqbal2/sdb350wz2pl4/wish/199400908 She is best known for her seminal work on enzymes. Enzymes were just beginning to be characterized properly. Working with German scientist Leonor Michaelis, in 1913, they defined the first model describing kinetics at which enzymes successfully converted one biomolecule to another.  Enzymes were an extremely new field in biochemistry at the time, and researchers were just beginning to explore their behaviour. Michaelis and Menten developed an equation to model and predict the rates of an enzyme-driven reaction.Their hypothesis was that the velocity of an enzymatic reaction and the concentration of substrate available for the reaction are directly related. Proteins called enzymes control the chemical reactions which maintain the life of cells. They speed up the rates of reactions while channeling their substrates into useful pathways to create metabolic products essential for normal bodily functioning. Each enzyme has a
specialized cleft on its surface called the “active site,” that goes to its substrate to form an enzyme-substrate complex. The rate
at which this happens determines
the rate and amount of the final product. Menten's formula gave scientists a way to record how enzymes work and became the standard for most enzyme-kinetic measurements. ]]> 2017-10-22 22:10:04 UTC https://padlet.com/fiqbal2/sdb350wz2pl4/wish/199400908 fiqbal2 https://padlet.com/fiqbal2/sdb350wz2pl4/wish/199402134 Her contributions have had significant impact on medicine. For example, the improvement of drug molecules by slowing down the rate it is degraded by enzymes. The development of most drugs would not have been possible without their discoveries. Menten, along with Michaelis created the well-known Michaelis-Menten equation: V = V_M[S] / K_M + [S] to explain the mechanism and velocity of reversible reactions between enzymes and their substrates. The hypothesis and equation are now described collectively as Michaelis-menten kinetics. This equation has been identified as a foundation in the modern study of enzymology. This rate is now a basic knowledge for biochemistry and is routinely used in research labs. ]]> 2017-10-22 22:25:02 UTC https://padlet.com/fiqbal2/sdb350wz2pl4/wish/199402134 fiqbal2 https://padlet.com/fiqbal2/sdb350wz2pl4/wish/199402216 She pioneered the process of electrophoresis,  the usage of electric fields to separate different protien in a mixture based on their size. Electrophoresis is an essential lab technique used world wide to study all biological systems.  This work also provided important information on differences in size and mobility of hemoglobin molecules. ]]> 2017-10-22 22:25:58 UTC https://padlet.com/fiqbal2/sdb350wz2pl4/wish/199402216 fiqbal2 https://padlet.com/fiqbal2/sdb350wz2pl4/wish/199402255 Menten also contributed to the discovery of a dye reaction that could be used to identify the enzyme alkaline phosphatase, levels of which serve as an indicator of renal and liver function, in the kidneys. Menten also used histochemical approaches to study glycogen and nucleic acid in the bone marrow. This was a major step in the developement of histochemistry and a method that is still used today. Her discovery opened up the field of histochemistry ]]> 2017-10-22 22:26:34 UTC https://padlet.com/fiqbal2/sdb350wz2pl4/wish/199402255 fiqbal2 https://padlet.com/fiqbal2/sdb350wz2pl4/wish/199402572 2017-10-22 22:31:04 UTC https://padlet.com/fiqbal2/sdb350wz2pl4/wish/199402572 fiqbal2 https://padlet.com/fiqbal2/sdb350wz2pl4/wish/199402744 At a time when women had no part in research and medicine in Canada, Maud Menten broke social barriers to become one of the most renowned biochemists in the world. She was one of the first Canadian women to earn an advanced degree and a PhD in medical science, making her a rare female presence in the male dominated laboratories.

]]> 2017-10-22 22:33:12 UTC https://padlet.com/fiqbal2/sdb350wz2pl4/wish/199402744 fiqbal2 https://padlet.com/fiqbal2/sdb350wz2pl4/wish/200259816 Menten published more than 70 papers over the course of her career, and even after her retirement from Pittsburgh, she continued researching cancer at the British Columbia Medical Research Institute. ]]> 2017-10-25 03:07:25 UTC https://padlet.com/fiqbal2/sdb350wz2pl4/wish/200259816 fiqbal2 https://padlet.com/fiqbal2/sdb350wz2pl4/wish/200260042 In 1998, due to her great contributions to the field of science, Menten was inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame.]]> 2017-10-25 03:09:10 UTC https://padlet.com/fiqbal2/sdb350wz2pl4/wish/200260042 fiqbal2 https://padlet.com/fiqbal2/sdb350wz2pl4/wish/200260202 Although not nearly as well-known as she should be, Menten's contributions to science are now considered common knowledge for students and is taught at every undergraduate biology course. Her discoveries and contributions helped shape the foundations of enzyme kinetics as well as histochemistry. ]]> 2017-10-25 03:10:37 UTC https://padlet.com/fiqbal2/sdb350wz2pl4/wish/200260202 fiqbal2 https://padlet.com/fiqbal2/sdb350wz2pl4/wish/200263307 2017-10-25 03:34:47 UTC https://padlet.com/fiqbal2/sdb350wz2pl4/wish/200263307