415-723-1772                                           E. M. Lederberg, Ph. D.
                                                       Dept. of Microbiology & Immunol.
                                                       Fairchild Bldg. #5402
                                                       Stanford Univ. Sch. of Medicine
                                                       Stanford, CA, 94305-2499



Dr. Bonnie Males
P. O.Box 452 (406 Lincoln)
Ellensburg, WA 98926                                   Oct. 1, 1991


Dear Bonnie.

I can't believe I haven't replied sooner to your April letter. I am glad you are settled where you like, it sounds very good. The Centennial celebrations are just about over. I did very little, except volunteer 2 afternoons of help. The dedication of the new Biol. Bldg. was great; a wonderful all-day symposium of outsider speakers, and a fine outside lunch. The first talk was a celebration of Beadle & Tatum, one gene, one enzyme work with Neurospora, where I got my MA in those labs., so I enjoyed it very much. And then an alum who was my lab partner in Cell Biol. course, then known as the Mystery Hour, also showed up.

As to the Plasmid Reference Center: it lost all sources of funding, and without grant support ( my appointment was co-terminous with that) most of it folded. I took Early Retirement, which allowed some support from the department: xerox, computer, phone & postage costs. So the acquisition , maintenance, and testing of plasmid cultures and other laboratory operations had to be cancelled , since there were no funds to support personnel. It was personally difficult to give up lab and lab work. However, with the above perks, I have been able to continue (part-time) the data base and nomenclature activities, and I like this so much better.

The department has changed very drastically since you were here: it has grown enormouly, and of course we are in the Fairchild Bldg. (Incidentally, the old place, really spruced up for another dept., suffered severe quake damage in Oct. 89). The only ones left are Bruce, Bob Roantree, Rosenberg, Schwartz (rarely here) and perhaps you knew Abdul Matin. Despite his age, Bruce is very active again, after a lapse when he had one person in the lab (from the Makela lab in Finland). Now he is really flourishing, and funded. They sold their house in Ladera, and bought a condo in downtown Palo Alto, very pleasant. Both daughters have PhD's: one is married. All the former secys are also gone, but anyhow, none of the new ones stay too long.

I can't remember who your old classmates in the lab were. Kris Mortelmans is still around, working in SRI. Lynn Valdivia moved to Abbot labs in Chicago, has a new husband and baby. Visits about 1x a year. Helen Hudson returned to Sydney, Aus., Has 3 sons. visited them in 1988 on a short trip there. Learned she had a baby girl a couple of years ago.

Other depts are doing well: David Botstain is new chair of Genetics. You may remember him for finding Tn 10, from phage p22, when you participated in the reading class I tried to conduct. A couple of weeks ago, a colicin researcher, Jan Smarda, from Brna, Czech. turned up, and it was quite interesting to talk to him. Unfortunately, Bruce was at a vaccine conference in Finland at the time.

I'm glad you have good projects ahead, are are active and busy. Let me know