acT 2 $1968

KAROLINSKA INSTITUTET
STOCKHOLM 60

 

Oct. 22, 1965
BAKTERIOLOGISKA

INSTITUTIONEN

Prof, J. Lederberg

Department of Genetics

Stanford University School
of Medicine

Stanford Medical Center

300 Pasteur Drive

Palo Alto, Cal,

USA

Dear Prof, Lederberg,

You may know the UNESCO journal "Impact-Science and Society"
which has a very wide circulation and reputation for selecting im-
portant subjects,

As I mentioned, when we met in Stanford earlier this year
UNESCO is now in the process of launching a "Microorganism’s Pro-
gram" and in this connection it has been felt that it would be
appropriate to devote a full issue to microbiology. This is a most
gratifying interest and when I recently visited Paris I discussed
the planning of this issue with the responsible authorities at the
UNESCO House. I also talked with André Lwoff who promised to con-
tribute a paper on "Order out of Confusion - A case for Systematic
Approaches in Microbiology." This will give an idea of the taxo-
nomic problems inherent in the area of microbiology, discuss the
current efforts to regularize virology in the same way as bacterio-
logy, and give a background to the need for culture collections.
The article may perhaps be finished by a plea for a systematic sur-
vey of the microorganism”’s world which is every nations common na-
tural resource,

Personally I have promised to contribute a paper on "Micro-
biology and World Affairs", which will be a bird’s eye view rang-
ing from agreements about Mars-probe sterilization to negotiations
about inspection and control of biological weapons (a special Pug-
wash study group on the latter area in fact meets here in Stock-
holm today). I will try to present the international organizations
both as a pressing need and as an expression of concern for the
demographic pressures which microbiology has helped to create. How-
ever this aspect would only be lightly touched upon, since a spe-
cial paper would be devoted to: "Infections Diseases and Human Eco-
logy" (R. Dubos, A.A. Miles, G.S. Wilson or a person of this type).
2.

Also we visualize a paper on "Horizons in Industrial Microbiology”,
by one of the japanese, who are now among the leaders in this par-
ticular field.

This prelude now brings me up to the $ 68.000 question: Would
you be willing to write on "The Impact of Microbial Genetics on
Science and Technology"? We all felt that nobody could do better
justice to this area, which offers so many tempting points for
extrapolation. However we of course like to leave both the title
and the emphasis open for your own decision and only speculated very
loosely about, the contents. Perhaps there might be an account of
some studies in molecular biology and a mention of a few sucessful
applications (penicillin-mutant selection etc.). This could serve
as a take off point for an imaginary account of the impact which
available genetic manipulation techniques might have, if systemati-
cally used, and of the horizons opened by the feed-back from mole-
cular biology. \

If you would accept this "mission" (for which there is a token
of $ 200 based on 10.000 words preferably delivered during January)
I will ask Dr. A. Pérez-Vitoria, the Editor of Impact, to send you
a letter about practical details.

Please give this suggestion a favourable consideration in spite
of the fact that there are so many tasks which compete for your time.
Personally I would not have accepted if I had not felt that micro-=
biology is now at a critical turning point, where a contribution of
this sort might be very, very helpful,

I expect to participate in the NASA Sterilization Conference
at Caltec between Nov. 16-18, and hope that I will see you there.

    
 
 

   
 
 

incerely

> |r.

T2G. Hedén
Chairman UNESCO/ICRO
Microbiology Panel

ce. Dr. A. Pérez-Vitoria