Seminar, 21. November 2013, S. Schuster

21. November 2013, 16:15
Ernst-Abbe-Platz 2, seminar room 3423

Commemorating the 1913 paper by Michaelis and Menten on the famous enzyme kinetic equation

Prof. Dr. Stefan Schuster
(Dept. of Bioinformatics, FSU Jena)

100 years ago, Leonor Michaelis and Maud Menten published (in German) their famous paper “Die Kinetik der Invertinwirkung”, in which they proposed an equation which is nowadays known as Michaelis-Menten kinetics. While this equation is taught to practically all students in biology, biochemistry and medicine, it is not so well-known where Michaelis had worked at that time. In this talk, I will give an outline of the careers both of Michaelis and Menten. Moreover, I will discuss the role of an even earlier pioneer in enzyme kinetics, Victor Henri, and the international synergism in the scientific community in the era around 1900 which led to the development of that field.

Reference: U. Deichmann; S. Schuster; J.-P. Mazat, A. Cornish-Bowden: Commemorating the 1913 Michaelis-Menten paper “Die Kinetik der Invertinwirkung”: three perspectives. FEBS Journal, in press.