LONG IsLAND BIOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION
COLD SPRING HARBOR, LONG ISLAND

THE BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY January 26, 1951

Dr. Joshua Lederberg
Department of Genetics

The University of Wisconsin
Madison 6, Wisconsin

Dear Lederberg:

I am very glad that you will participate in the forthcoming symposium;
and I particularly wish to thank you for your suggestions and comments regard-
ing the program. Most of the questions you raise have received consideration
and thought by the group helping with the plans.

We realized that work with microorganisms was being given considerable
emphasis, perhaps greater than it warrants; but, on the other hand, at present
this is the most active field of genetical research, and it would be difficult
to cover the major problems connected with genes and mutations without drawing
on the results of such work. The situation now is similar to that of fifteen
or twenty years ago, when Drosophila research touched on all the major problems
of genetics. If you glance through the Symposium of ten years ago you will
note that fifty percent of the biological papers dealt with Drosophila.

L'Heritier's name is on our list; and if we have room on the program and
money to pey his expenses we will try to get him here. I agree with you that
the majority of American geneticists know Ephrussi and might prefer the oppor-
tunity of meeting L'Heritier, but any discussion of cytoplasmic heredity would
be incomplete without Ephrussi.

According to our latest information, Newcombe has not been doing any
work on phenotypic delay since he published the data he had on the problem.
Material that we have accumulated as a by-product of research on various other
problems indicates that Newcambe's interpretation was far from right. The
whole problem of phenotypic delay is very involved, and a great deal more work
needs to be done before it would be wise to put much emphasis on it. I hope
that both Newcombe and Davis will attend the symposium, where they will have
plenty of opportunity to discuss their views.

The reason we invited Bisset to talk about cytology of bacteria is that
he has a great many ideas which it would be well to discuss.

We would like to bring as many geneticists from Europe as we can with
the limited funds at our disposal. Of course we are also anxious to give help
to American geneticists who would not be able to attend the meeting otherwise.
However, our experience in the past has been that the majority of American
workers are able to get funds for travel from their universities or fran
grants they may have. I think that the University of Wisconsin has such funds
available, and you might wish to try that source.
Dr. Joshua Lederberg -2- January 26, 1951

Enclosed is a copy of a Notice to Participants, containing information
about the preparation of manuscripts.” Past experience indicates that it is
advisable to plan for presentations lasting about 45 minutes, and not longer
than 60 minutes at most. There is considerable latitude about the length of
manuscripts for publication in the volume. The average length is 10 printed
pages, and individual papers vary from 3 to 30 printed pages. Manuscripts
are due here by June l.

With best regards,
Sincerely yours,

[Whturrre< ,

UD:af Me. Demerec
Enclosure

*This notice is being revised and retyped. A copy will be sent to you next
week,
II.

Iii.

IV.

VI.

XVIith COLD SPRING HARBOR SYMPOSIUM
Genes and Mutations

June 8-15, 1951

Tentative Program

Gene Concept

Muller (Indiana): Evolution of gene concept; historical
sketch.

Wright (Chicago): Theory of the gene.

McClintock (Cold Spring Harbor); Stadler (Missouri)

Cytoplasmic Constituents of Heredity

 

Sonneborn (?) (Indiana); Ephrussi (Paris); Michaelis
(Germany); Hutner (Haskins Laboratories, N.Y.C.)

Evolution of the Gene

 

Lewis (Pasadena); Bonner (Yale); Dunn (Columbia U.);
Stephens (Raleigh, N.C.); Mather (England); Horowitz
(Pasadena )

Induction of Changes in Genes and Chromosomes

 

Auerbach (Edinburgh); Westergaard (Copenhagen); Demerec
(C.S.H.); Levan (Lund); Giles (Yale); Gustafsson
(Stockholm)

Genetic Mechanisms in Bacteria and Bacterial Viruses

 

Bisset (England): Cytology of bacteria.

Witkin (C.S.H.): Bacterial nucleus as carrier of genetic
determinants.

Lederberg (Wisconsin); Szilard-Novick (Chicago); Atwood
(Columbia U.); Hershey (C.S.H.); Luria (Illinois)

Conclusions and Perspectives

 

Sonneborn (?); Mirsky (Rockefeller Inst.)