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SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
STANFORD UNIVERSITY, STANFORD, CALIFORNIA 94505

JOSHUA LEDERBERG
JoseEPH D. GRANT PROFESSOR
OF GENETICS

February 28, 1978

ie
Dr. Donald H. Dean
Department of Microbiology
The Ohio State University
484 West 12th Avenue
Columbus, Ohio 43210

Dear Dr. Dean:

Thank you for your letter of February 17. I appreciate the
problem that you are addressing and the effort that: you will be
making to keep the pedigree line straight. I am a little afraid
that there are enough errors in the strain summary book and
their uncritical interpretation that a mere copying might do
more harm than good if the listing were not accompanied by some
more personal insight into the derivations and into the sources
of additional information. I certainly had this experience in
trying to trace the histories of E. coli strains. We have tried
to be as meticulous as possible in describing the derivation of
the strains mentioned in any of our publications; but of course
I realize that that may not be the most convenient way to
access further information.

7 a
We will be giving close attention to the question of the most
responsible disposition of our stock culture collection and our
strain notes as this is, of course, affected’ by my looming move
to Rockefeller University, where I do not expect to continue this
line of research. I will certainly keep your request in mind in
those deliberations.

Meanwhile, if you do have any questions about specific situations,
I hope you will not hesitate to address them either to Dr. Ganesan

or myself.

Sincerely yours,

JL/gel