STANFORD UNIVERSITY
STANFORD, CALIFORNIA 94305

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY

March 25, 1974

Dr. Michael Oxman, Program Director
Biomolecular Characterization Resources
Biotechnology Resources Branch
National Institutes of Health

Bethesda, Maryland 20014

Re: RR-00612
Dear Mike:

This is in response to your telephone call on March 18 and Dr. Raub's letter of
the same date conveying the good news in regard to our DENDRAL grant

renewal. Since that time, we have been examining our budget estimate

along the guidelines you discussed with us, attempting to modify the manpower cost
allocation so as to be able to implement a better long term data system solution

- and to increase the effectiveness of the MS-9 instrument.

In line with our discussions of March 18, we have tried to accommodate the
increased hardware costs by reductions in personnel. The attached budget
reflects the limit to which we feel this can be done without prejudicing the goals
of the project. This formulation of the instrumentation and computer support will
maximize our ability to use standard systems and facilitate software interchange
between DENDRAL and other research efforts.

To this end we have constructed a plan, detailed in the attached modified first year
budget estimate, which provides for the purchase and maintenance of a minimal
PDP-11/45 computer data system and an upgrading of our MS-9 spectrometer which
we feel would be advantageous to the project by allowing a greater concentration
of the MAT-711 capabilities on GC/HRMS. In order to offset these increased
hardware costs in the first year, we have modified our manpower cost allocations
in a number of small increments throughout the staffing plan. These changes
include several painful cuts and take advantage of support from other sources which
we were not able to anticipate at the time our proposal was submitted last
December. In fact, even at this time some of the allocation changes are

proposed based on anticipated rather than in-hand funding. The risks involved are
relatively small and we feel are warranted in light of this opportunity for
enhancing the overall project capabilities.

| trust the attached budget estimate is self explanatory. If questions arise, please
do not hesitate to call. As | mentioned on the telephone, | am going on a five-
week trip for the National Academy of Sciences starting Monday, March 25. In
Dr. Michael Oxman -2- March 25, 1974

my absence please refer all correspondence and questions relating to these
matters to Professor Lederberg in the Department of Genetics.

1 am anxiously looking forward to completing these negotiations for a May 1
award so we can once again concentrate on the substantive technical issues of
applying GC/MS to medical problems. | recognize that this past year of grant
application and reapplication has been painful for you at BRB as well as for us.
1 am grateful for your patience and cooperation in charting a course through the
many obstacles and am very pleased at the successful outcome.

/

Sincefely yours,

Carl Djerassi
Professot)of Chemistry,
Principat Investigator

CD:ab

Enclosure

 

Robert D. Simmons

Contracts and Grants Manager
Sponsored Projects Office
Stanford University

Stanford, California 94305
PRIVILEGED COMMUNICATION SECTION II SUBSTITUTE THIS PAGE FOR DETAILED BUDGET PAGE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

*/HRS.

 

Principal Investigator or
Program Director

See attached personnel
detail

 

 

 

PERIOD COVERED GRANT NUMBER
SUBSTITUTE FROM THROUGH RR 00612
DETAILED BUDGET FOR FIRST 12-MONTH PERIOD May 1, 1974 April 30, 1975 ~
t. PERSONNEL (List all personnel engaged on project) eee AMOUNT REQUESTED (Omit cents)
NAME (Last, first, initial TITLE OF POSITION :

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

En eeereenemnmmers atl
TOTAL $ 156,307
2. CONSUL TANT COSTS (Include Fees and Travel)
$
3. EQUIPMENT (Itemize) (A) Equipment Maintenance: (B)
DEC GT-40 Display Terminal $13,400 PDP-11 (DEC Contract) $7,940 A) $80 ,250
PDP 11/45 Mini Computer 59 5750 ‘Mat-711 (Parts, etc.) 6,500 B) 14,440
MS~9 Spectrometer Upgrade 7,100 $
4. SUPPLIES
Electronics Supplies $4,400 Liquid Nitrogen $1 ,000
GC Supplies (Columns, gasses, etc. 1,000 Data Recording Media 1,000
Chemicals, glassware, stock, etc. 1,500 Minicomputer Supplies 700 |§ 9,600
STAFF 6, DOMESTIC $ 1,200
TRAVEL
(See Instructions) b. FOREIGN $
6. PATIENT COSTS (Separate Inpatient and Outpatient)
$
7. ALTERATIONS AND RENOVATIONS
$
8 OTHER EXPENSES (Itemize per instructions)
Publications, telephone, office supplies, postage $4,000
Computer Terminal Lease (4) 5,400
Computer Usage - 370/158 (First Year Item Only) 5 ,000
s 14,400
9%. Subtotal — Items 1 thry 8 ne 1s 276,197
10. TRAINEE EXPENSES (See Instructions)
PREDOCTORAL No. Proposed $
FOR a. STIPENDS | POSTDOCTORAL No. Proposed $
OTHER (Specify) No. Proposed SS
TRAINING DEPENDENCY ALLOWANCE $s.
GRANTS TOTAL $TIPEND EXPENSES —————__» |{§
b. TUITION AND FEES $
ONLY
¢. TRAINEE TRAVEL (Describe) $
mW Subtotal - Trainee Expenses nero | S
12. TOTAL DIRECT COST (Add Subtotals, Items 9 and 11, and enter on Page 1) nnn 1$ 975 ,197
Substitute Budget Page 5-72 GPO 930-79)

For Forms PHS 398 and PHS 2499-1
RETURN ORIGINAL AND ONE Copy

Supplementary Information for Personnel Costs Requested

It is the policy of the DHEW to omit specific salary rates or amounts for individuals

from those copies of grant applications which are made available to reviewing

consultants. Therefore, a substitute budget page is enclosed and must be used in
lieu of the present budget page in all competing applications. Note that individual
salaries will not be shown on the substitute budget page; however, if a grant is to
be awarded as a result of this application, the awarding unit will need information

concerning specific salaries. Please use the space below to list all personnel
shown on the substitute budget page, and include the salary and fringe benefits

requested for each, following the appropriate guidelines in the Information and
Instructions.

THIS INFORMATION WILL BE USED ONLY BY PHS ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF.

DESCRIPTION (itemize)

tei

AMOUNT REQUESTED (Omit cents}

 

PERSONNEL

 

TIME OR
EFFORT

FRINGE

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NAME TITLE OF POSITION “oe BENEFITS TOTAL

C. Dierassi PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR 107 $ _o-

J. Lederberg Principal Investigator 102 =0=
E. Feigenbaum Principal Investigator 10% _ | 2,910 3,424
A. Duffield Research Associate 15% 3,532 4,157
D. Smith Research Associate 100% {16,200 19,062
N. Sridharan Research Associate 100% 110,690 12,590
H. Brown Research Associate 100% {16,200 19,062
G. Dromey Research Associate 100% | 7,750 9,119
W. White rogrammer 100% (14, 400 16,945
R. Tucker rogrammer 100% (14,100 16,591
A. Wegmann penior Research Assistant [100% 115,000 17,650
N. Veizades Electronics Engineer 90% {10,200 12,002
E. Steed Glass Blower/Machinist 15% | 3,046 3,585
L. Masinter Research Assistant 100% | 5,070 2,970
M. Stefik Research Assistant 754 | 3,781 3,781
J. Friediand Research Assistant 30% 2,206 2,206
K, Wharton pecretary 100% | 9.400 11,062

- Same as al for personnel on
“ Substitute Detailen Budget Page <a 156, 307
: DATE OF OHEW AGREEMENT: CO waiveo

Supplementary Information for Personnel Costs

InpIREcT x sew
(See Instruction.) —__47_ * NTpc June 26, 1973

 

For Forms PHS 398 and PHS 2499-1

“IF THIS IS A SPECIAL RATE (e.g off-site), SO INDICATE,

9-72

(] UNOER NEGOTIATION WITH:

 

GPO 930-790
Budget Explanation

The attached budget is derived from that submitted with our proposal in
December 1973. We have adjusted our manpower costs so as to be able to
budget the purchase in the first year of a PDP-11/45 minicomputer data
system in place of augmenting the PDP-11/20 and to upgrade the performance

of our MS-9 spectrometer. The manpower cost reallocation needed to offset
these costs in the first year could not be fully absorbed in the areas
recommended by the Study Section (MS laboratory support) without jeopardizing
the entire operation of the laboratory. The proposal budget as submitted
had been vigorously pruned to minimize costs, particularly with respect to
manpower and GC/MS laboratory support. Our experience has been that Ms.
Wegmann is heavily occupied full time in operating the GC/MS system to
optimize performance and manage the sample handling. This will be all the
more true as our sample load increases for the larger scope sample processing
we proposed. We allocated in total less than one full time equivalent to
maintain the electronic, mechanical, vacuum, and glass work systems of the
instruments as well as to develop the necessary new electronics and controls
for metastable and GC/HRMS work. We have been unable (even considering
possibly higher costs) to obtain the required maintenance support from

other sources (e.g. vendors).

We have implemented a number of small but painful cuts in the laboratory
support area as well as elsewhere in the budget and have taken advantage of
first year support from other sources for particular individuals connected
with the project which could not be anticipated in our earlier submission.
These relatively small incremental adjustments distributed over the first
year staffing plan allow us to offset the increased hardware costs.

PERSONNEL

Dr. Duffield - A small error has been corrected in the previous computation

of Dr. Duffield's salary and his salary allocation has been reduced

to 15% of his time. This is consistent with the expected but as yet unawarded
Genetics Research Center grant which will support part of his body fluid
analysis research efforts relevant fo the DENDRAL project.

Dr. Sridharan- Dr. Sridharan has taken a leave of absence through August
1974. We have reduced his salary allocation in proportion.

Dr. Dromey - Dr. Dromey has received fellowship support from the Australian
government through October 1974 so that his salary allocation is reduced
in proportion.

Mr. Veizades - We have reduced the allocated support for Mr. Veizades to 50%.
H is services in the proposed development efforts and for instrument main-
tenance are indispensable. We feel his support commitment cannot be reduced
further without severely degrading performance on the project.

Mr Steed - We have reduced Mr. Steed's allocation to 15%. Again,
his services are essential for laboratory maintenance.

Research Assistants - Mr. Stefik's plans for this summer have changed
so that he will only spend half time on the project and Mr. Friedland
(previously listed as "to be appointed") will not start until September.
These changes are reflected in appropriate salary reductions.
EQUIPMENT

We have budgeted the purchase and maintenance of a PDP-11/45 minicomputer
for the mass spectrometer data system rather than augmenting our existing
PDP-11/20 machine. This system is minimally configured to do the necessary
work, taking advantage of DEC discounts to Stanford and purchasing equipment
from other vendors where appropriate. These costs are detailed below
including sales tax.

1) PDP-11/45, TTY, Clock, and 16K memory $25,530
2) 12k additional fast memory (Intel) 6,360
3) Floating point processor 5,050
4) Industry magnetic tape drive 10,250
5) Disk storage drive (System Industries) 11,130
6) RT-11 Software 1,430

$59,750

The maintenance cost for this system will be $7,940 per year for one
shift coverage.

Our MS-9 mass spectrometer has, over a period of years, been kept up to
date commensurate with availability of funds. Modifications have included
upgrading some of the electronics for increased reliability and to provide
the capability for fast scanning at high resolving powers. Other upgrades
have included ion source modifications for higher sensitivity and inter-
facing to the present computer system. As the instrument stands now,
together with the $7,100 budgeted for replacement of certain critical
items which hamper achievable sensitivity, and upgrading of the computer
interface, the MS-9 can off-load more routine high resolution mass spec-
trometry experiments, thus freeing the MAT-711 for more concentrated
effort on GC/HRMS.

The planned improvements include:

Ion multiplier replacement $2,500
Ion source plate replacement 2,500
Ion source slip replacement 1,600
Computer interface up-grade 500

$7,100