ocT 4 97

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION, AND WELFARE

PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH
BETHESDA, MARYLAND 20014

September 29, 1971

 

Dr. Joshua Lederberg

Department of Genetics

Stanford University School of Medicine
Stanford University Medical Center
Stanford, California 94305

Dear Dr. Lederberg:

Thank you for your letter of September 23, 1971, which expressed an interest in
the centers for research in human genetics currently being considered by this
Institute. I regzet that there is no printed material available, since the
program is, as yet, in its planning and pilot stages.

As you may know, the National Institute of General Medical Sciences supports a
large body of genetic research, including research in human genetics. The bulk
of this work is supported by individual project grants, and we continue to feel
that such instruments should be the dominant instrument of support for genetics.
However, much work in human genetics, and particularly medical genetics, is
necessarily a team effort, involving interactions on a variety of fronts and
the pooling of hwman and capital resources. Thus we visualize the center of
support as providing the funding instrument to permit flexible interactions,
and coherence between clinicians, biochemists, population geneticists, etc.
Therefore, center grants in human genetics of the type we have in mind would

be expected to have the following characteristics:

1. They would have a rather broad scope, covering a broad spectrum of human
genetic disease, from genetic counselling to investigations in the molecular
aspects of dysfunction. The program of this Institute is directed to the
“genetics of disease rather than specific genetic diseases which are the
concern of the categorical institutes of NIH. Hence, studies of specific
genetic diseases, in depth, within one of these centers is justified only
on the basis that if these are expected to contribute to overall knowledge
of the genetic basis of disease.

2. Corresponding to the broad scope, a variety of disciplines, often cutting
across departmental lines, would be represented. Applications for the
center would have to demonstrate cohesion and patterms of collaboration,

3. The funds requested would, of necessity, be larger than for the usual research
project grant, and should represent the dominant form of support for the group.

If you feel that your research plans, and the plans of colleagues and collaborators
correspond to these characteristics, I would be most pleased to initiate discus-
sions with you along these lines.

Sincerely yours,

BN I a one

Fred H. Bergmann, Ph.D.
Program Administrator
Research Grants Branch
National Institute of
General Medical Sciences