title: The discovery of beta-galactosidase.
abstract: The enzyme beta-galactosidase was first mentioned in the literature by Beijerinck exactly a hundred years ago. The Department of Microbiology and Enzymology of the Delft University of Technology keeps the memory of Beijerinck, its first professor, alive by maintaining a 'Beijerinck-room' in the attic of the building. In addition to manuscripts and laboratory notebooks, this room contains some of his chemicals and biological preparations, and it was here that we recently found a 90-year old lactase preparation. Even after storage under suboptimal conditions, the preparation still exhibited measurable enzyme activities.
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Rouwenhorst
authors.forename: J T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Pronk
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: van Dijken
mesh_terms: D005696:Galactosidases / Q000266:history*; D049672:History, 19th Century; D009426:Netherlands; D012440:Saccharomyces / Q000201:enzymology; D001616:beta-Galactosidase / Q000266:history*
chemical_list: D005696:Galactosidases; D001616:beta-Galactosidase