UNJVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO

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SANTA BARBARA o SANTA CRUZ

SCHOOL OF MEDICINE:

SAN IRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 94143

December 9, 1974

Dr. Robin Weiss
c/o Dr. Robert Gallo
National Cancer Institute
Bethesda, Maryland 20014

Dear Robin:

I was surprised to learn from your recent letter that you feel I have
sinned against you in the matter of RPL-12.
fromyour letter that this virus means a great deal to you, I hope you
will believe that from our point of view it was simply one of a very
large number of viruses and cell types which Peter had sent to us for
testing with Dominique's "sarcoma-gene specific" probe.
of the politics and priorities involved; if Peter erred in sending the
virus to us without discussing it with you or Graham Purchase, that is
a matter for you to work out with him.
being secretive about our work with RPL-12 in the 30 seconds we chatted
in Florence.  I was not.
say---we have still done no more than show that at least 10 per cent of
the final transforming stock consists of virus with transformation genes
---and it did not occur to me that there could be anything wrong with our
having the virus to test.

Although I can understand

We had no idea

1 am sorry if you think I was

There would have been little or nothing to

Those of us involved with the sarcoma-gene project (Dominique, Mike, Peter,
and I) are content to leave with you the decision as to what we should do
at this point with RPL-12.  Some weeks age0 Peter sent us an ''early" stock
of the virus, but we have not yet prepared sufficient quantities for test-
ing.  We could (1) drop the whole business; (2) send you our limited data
to date for use in the manuscript you are now preparing; and/or (3) analyze
any stocks, cells, or tumors you wished to send us.  It might be useful if
you could call us from Bethesda to discuss this matter, so we can know what
to do with the stocks Peter has sent.
publish anything about RPL-12 without your consent or co-authorship.

In any case, we will certainly not

I feel obligated to respond to your remarks about the duck cell business.
Since I took care to acknowledge your idea in several papers and public
appearances, I hardly think I demonstrated a lack of gratitude for what
has proved to be a very good suggestion.  There never has been, however,
any real need for t'collaboration't in the usual sense in the development of
this system.
we soon found a local source and have subsequently done whatever biology
was necessary in our own lab.
manuscripts reflects his help in several areas---development of transformed
mammalian cell lines, provision of many virus stocks, frequent discussion
of research plans, etc.; it would be very unfair to assume that he usurped
some role which was rightfully yours.

In the early days, Peter sent us a couple of dozenduck eggs, but

The inclusion of Peter as co-author on several

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I certainly regret anything I may have done, wittingly or unwittingly,
to cause us to correspond about these morose subjects.
I (and my colleagues) send you our best personal regards.

Despite them,

Yours,

Harold E. Vams, M.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Microbiology

HEV/es