° , 5/Rockefeller&, THE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY a University /< 1230 YORK AVENUE NEW YORK, NY 10021 oO > aS : > vune 39, 1981 JOSHUA LEDERBERG PRESIDENT Dr. Charles Herzfeld International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation 320 Park Avenue New York, New York 10022 Dear Charlie: Our meeting yesterday was,I hope, just a further introduction. (If I may say so there is a lot we could as individuals and insti- tutions learn from one another across interfaces of science and praxis and their management). Can we do this sort of thing two or three times a year? Let us host next time? I have no doubt that food technology will evolve rapidly using new edibles (including low calorie) from various sources. Most of these may come from processing existing primary sources, e.g. tex- tured soy proteins; but new plant varieties and some measure of new microbes, perhaps especially enzymes, surely will play a large role. I am told for example that egg white is a critical item in baking economics. ‘ Is the physical chemistry of baking etc. well enough under- stood to define objectives in food technology resources? When this is done strategies for economical production of such materials can have a sharp focus. Cellulose -- or other fiber-extended foods are bound to have a big play. Where is the really tasty, low-cal candy bar? Connected with that ,low-cal sweeteners have an obvious future. Successors to aspartame are bound to come along but will be slowed up by (sometimes valid) FDA considerations. Crystalline fructose deserves your consideration -- seriously you might want to talk to Chevron-Cetus about their process, for some kind of joint venture when it comes to building factories. Dr. Charles Herzfeld June 30, 19681 -2- Plant applications of new biology are coming in a rush; but I'm a little skeptical about where large private returns will come in contrast to the agricultural economy as a whole. The exception may be plantation crops (rubber is a prototype) where the investor himself industrializes the innovation. ITT forests may be the point of application. Yours,sincerely, Dr. Charles Herzfeld June 30, 1981 On another theme, and here I do not speak for Rockefeller University but as a world citizen, I am chagrined (and I hope this is correctable.ignorance on my part) at ITT's penurious posture in philanthropy. From what some of your company people told me, I am guessing it is the lowest of any similar US based corporation. And it is easy to see that Harold Geneen had other things on his mind. I do have a particular suggestion, that would be a good match to ITT's global posture and one that would solve a lot of administrative and practical problems in "doing good" on a rea- sonable scale without exciting a lot of "me too" demands. The suggestion is to support research in international health i.e. tropical diseases like malaria, schistomiasis, onchocerciasis ---« woefully underfunded today. The principal vehicles for this would be: WHO through its tropical disease research program headquartered in Geneva. The "great neglected diseases" network sponsored by a number of foundations but led by Ken Warren at The Rockefeller Foundation (no connection to the University!) These efforts involve a combina- tion of work in LDCs, fellowships to support training of their people in Europe and the U.S. and sophisticated research at the most advanced level. I am personally deeply committed to these efforts and would be happy to put your people in touch with the principals. Can you give me some guidance how to market this message? We should look forward to a corporate network in New York (as the world's capital) to put special steam behind this and I think I have good reason to finger ITT for a leadership role in such an effort. a