SEP 25 1963 ~

COUIOCY) OF WIRIKiKi
Wawattan Perfemerd, Ine.

$218 WAIMANU STREET * HONOLULU 14 * TELEPHONE 59-223 - 56-377

September 19, 1963

 

Dr. Joshua Lederberg
e/o Stanford University
Palo Alto, California

Dear Doctor Lederberg:

With great interest, I read an article in the August 3C issue of
the TIME magazine about your development of a "multivator" in
association with the Drs. Levinthal and Hundley.

The purpose of this multiple evaluator is, as it was described,
to test dust off the Martian surface for evidence of life by
means of a phosphatase determination.

I thought it might be of interest to you that I have worked (for
my doctor's degree) for almost three years exclusively with the
various methods for the quantitative determination of phosphatase.

In order to be able to determine quantitively slightest traces
of alkaline phosphatase (in enamel from teeth), a number of
described methods were compared and several of them were espe-
cially adopted for increased sensitivity. A new uniform defini-
tion of the phosphatase unit was proposed, which allows
comparison of different methods. :

The TIME article mentions that the multivator will use fluorescein
phosphate as the substrate. As mentioned in my dissertation,

H. Neumann proposed the development of a fluorescence method by
using the phosphates of Methyloxycumarin, Fluorescein, Eosin,
Oxyacridole, and the sodium salt of 3-Oxypyrensulfonic acid.

BRANCH OFFICE AND WAREHOUSE: 2607 E. FOOTHILL BOULEVARD, PASADENA, CALIFORNIA, PHONE 795-1222

 
Dr. Joshua Lederberg -2- September 19, 1963

I suspect that the phosphates of fluorescein and eosin will show

a larger disadvantage. Because of their two OH groups, the amount
of the split color component will not be a linear proportional
function of the enzyme concentration, as it also is the case with the
Phenolphtaleinphosphate-method. For this and other reasons, a

new fluorescence method was developed by using Beta-methyloxycou-
marinicphosphoric acid ester. The preparation of this substrate,
details of the fluorescence, as well as other methods, are
described in my dissertation and to a very limited extent in the
publication in Archives of oral Biology, Vol. 1, pp. 8-22, 1959,
Pergamon Press Ltd., printed in Great Britain.

I would be glad if I could be of any assistance in this special-
ized field. I am enclosing one reprint of our publication; the
complete dissertation could be made available to you should you
be interested.

Very truly yours,

LIANA OF WAIKIKI f

Dr. H. P. Baumgartner
President

HPB:isy

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