108-26 45th Ave.
Forest Hills

New York, N.Y.
1/18/50

Dear Dr.Lederberg,

Thank you very much for your Kind letter,
I would indeed like to be considered for the assistantship;
however, there are a few points on which I should like to
have some further clarification. You write, "....under the
elreumstances your qualifications as a candidate for further
research support after the first vear will be serutinized on
the same basis as those of other entering students, rather
than with those students for whom facilities have been
tentatively reserved following their ac:eptance under regular
procedure." Does ‘research support! refer to the assistantship
or to money needed for the research prover? Also, does this
mean that I would not, during my first vear, be a regularly
accepted student, end if so, why? I, understand that, while
it is too late to apply for assistarships through the
regular channels, it is not too late to apply for regular
admission.

You wrote in a previous note, not to fill
out the application form +4111 had heard a favorable reply to
my assistantship application, so for the time being, I am not
sending the forms in yet. I have written to Dr.Sonneborn
and Dr.Borrey, however.

As to working on Neurospora problems, I
have no experience in handling that particular organism, which
is one reason I would welcome the opportunity of working with
Neurospora for a while. However, I do hope that I will be
able to do the bulk of my thesis work on E.Coli.

You mentioned that there might be a vossibility
of a stipend for research for this summer. While I appreciate
the offer, I do not think that I will be able to accept it.

As you probably know, Dr.Davis is going to California around
the middle of July and I do not want to dnconvinience him by
leaving the lab before then.

Enclosed, please find the vhotogravh you
requested. It is a bit informal, but the only thine I could
dig up on short notice. If a more formal picture is recuired,
I can of course have one taken and send it along later,

Thanking you again, I remain,
Sincerely yours,

Flise Cahn