FEDERAL SECURITY AGENCY © Public Health Service
NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH «¢ Bethesda 14, Md.

July 18, 1951
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ARTHRITIS AND METABOLIC DISEASES
NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTE
In reply please

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DENTAL RESEARCH
NATIONAL HEART INSTITUTE ref er to E-72(C3)
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF MENTAL HEALTH

NATIONAL MICROBIOLOGICAL INSTITUTE

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF NEUROLOGICAL DISEASES AND BLINDNESS

THE CLINICAL CENTER

DIVISION OF RESEARCH GRANTS

 

 

Dr. Joshua Lederberg

Associate Professor of Genetics
College of Agriculture
University of Wisconsia
Madison 6, Wisconsin

Dear Doctor Lederberg:

Thank you very much for the kind reaarks, in your letter
of July 12, regarding the administration and the personnel of the grants
program. I am sorry that the grant recently awarded you was in an
amount less than you requested and I hope that the curtailed funds will
not seriously interfere with the successful conduct of your work involv-
ing the genetics of bacteria.

I should like to assure you that the members of the review.
ing panels who passed on your project were keenly interested in encourag-
ing investigations in the field of bacterial genetics and, I believe,
found your proposal particularly interesting and promising; however,
since the latter phase of your research is still in its early stages,
it was difficult for our advisory bodies to evaluate the eventual
productivity of your project against the many other requests which were
necessarily in competition for the limited amount of money available.

I do hope that the work will proceed as you anticipate, and that the
new data which you will include in your next progress report will be
sufficient to obtain for you the funds needed adequately to accomplish
your plan of experimentation.

From the statements contained in your letter, I am confident
you realize that we are constantly confronted with the problem of re-~
fusing many worthwhile scientific proposals for which we have insufficient
research grant funds and that our problem is complicated by the uncertainty
regarding the amount of yearly congressional appropriations. It is,
therefore, impossible for me to make any commitments or even predictions
regarding the outcome of requests for future support. I do wish to re-
assure you, however, that the policy of our reviewing panels is unchanged
-2-

and that every consideration will be given to the scientific merits of
your proposal should you elect to request contimed support for your
research,

Please do not hesitate to write me if you have any further
questions.

Sincerely yours,

Leonard Karel, Ph.D.
Chief, Extramural Prograas
National Microbiological Institute