FEB i gigr4 UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO AT DENVER 1100: Fourteenth Street Denver, Cotorado 80202 (303): 892-1117 Division of Natural and Physical Sciences February 15, 1974 Prof. Joshua Lederberg Chairman, Dept. of Genetics Stanford University Stanford, CA 94305 Dear Dr. Lederberg: This letter is prompted by the recent announcement by the Stanford Medical Center News Bureau, concerning establishment of a national computer facility for medical research, under your direction. The project as outlined in the press release is so interesting to me and so close in many aspects to work I have been doing for the past three years that I wish to investigate the possibility of becoming associated in some way with the program. My relevant experience touches on two aspects of the project as out- lined in the report. First, I recently spent two years as a research associate at the Computer Graphics Laboratory of Princeton University. My main responsi- bility was development of graphical techniques in X-ray crystallographic analy- sis of biological molecules, and in conformational analysis of nucleic acids and proteins. Our equipment was a PDP-10 computer with an Evans & Sutherland LDS-l1 graphics computer, and the project was funded by an NIH Research Resources grant to Professors Robert Langridge and W. Todd Wipke of the Princeton Biochem- istry and Chemistry Departments, respectively. One of our recent achievements was the solution of the crystal structure of GpC, a dimucleoside phosphate, and the largest structure ever solved at atomic resolution without isomorphous replacement (Biopolymers le, 2731 (1973)). I am presently continuing conformational studies of nucleic acid substituents for the purpose of predicting stable crystal and solutions structures. The other area of experience is my familiarity with computer sys- tems in medical research in general. I am working as a consultant to the Oil, Chemical, and Atomic Workers Union, setting up a nationwide screening mow program for detecting respiratory disease among blue-collar workers. After collecting results of spirometric field tests on workers, the data is received here in Denver and processed by computer for two purposes: alerting the individual workers and their physicians of possible health problems, and build- ing a data base for epidemiological studies of health effects of certain respirable dusts and chemicals. In the event that you are in a position to consider hiring new research personnel, I have taken the liberty of enclosing my resume. Your venture appears to be both promising and exciting, and I would like the oppor- Sincerely yours, “as . ~ Steven D. Stellman tunity to become a participant.