THE UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER

SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AND DENTISTRY
AND

STRONG MEMORIAL HOSPITAL

ROCHESTER, NEW YORK 14642

DEPARTMENT OF MICROBIOLOGY February 17, 1977

Dr. Joshua Lederberg

Professor of Genetics

Stanford University Medical Center
Department of Genetics

Stanford, California 94305

Dear Josh:

Thank you very much for the prompt transmission of Erlich's

manuscript. It really looks interesting and of major conceptual
innovation.

|! also appreciate your letter of February 4th. | was unaware

of your early work with Bacillus subtilis transformation. Your
contributions were gigantic and certainly shaped, not only the

early but the continuing scene of international genetic research.
| do appreciate the reference to the initial report of Burkholder

and Giles. | left it out at that point, not to slight them but

to emphasize the work that began following the discovery of trans-
formation. In an earlier paper, Spores V, we covered that contri-
bution. Possibly, it would be better for me to highlight it again

in any other subsequent historical development. In any event, |

certainly appreciate your comments and your many contributions to

subtilis genetics.

a

Hope we can entice you to come to Rochester some time next
year.

Sincerely,

. iE
Frank E. Young, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor and Chairman

FEY:mp

yrovt, ‘9 MOA