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S* September 22, 1980

JOSHUA LEDERBERG

PRESIDENT

Professor Stanford Moore
The Rockefeller University

Dear Stan:

As we had a brief opportunity to discuss before, the
development of defensive measures (prophylaxis and anti-
dotes) for organo phosphate cholinesterase inhibitors has
become a matter of high priority for national security.

The appropriate offices recognize that this is a very dif-
ficult task, which will require far more fundamental knowl-
edge about the biology of cholinergic transmission than is
now available. I thought it would take longer than it has;
but I'm now informed that the Army Research Office already
has substantial funds which can (and indeed must) be allo-
cated on fairly short notice to deal with some of these
very fundamental issues. In particular the detailed struc-
ture of acetylcholinesterase is a matter of high priority;
and I am sure that they would be very receptive indeed to
funding a research proposal from you if you would be inter-
ested in assuming such a responsibility.

s

If you have any interest I would be glad to discuss it
with you further; alternatively you can call Dr. Shirley Tove
as indicated in the enclosure: I had a brief opportunity to
discuss the background of this already. Time is, however,
of the essence.

Yours sincerely,

 
 

Joshua Lederberg

Encl.