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Alan Gregg, Chairman ims. Franc>s 3. ilontgomeryj Secretary Jtinutes of ljeeting held at the.— _— The Chairman convened the meeting of the fii~visoryCorm5_tte~ for ~iolo~y and i:edicine were placed before the Committee by the Chairrnarl. FOR OFFICIAL USE O!JLY
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FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY A motion was made by Dr. Faillaj seconded by Or. Sternj and a-~oroved unanimo’~s~ti~that the yragrapll on ‘fForeigri In this connection, Dr. Stern brou:;ht out t.]at in tic travel of’indivj.uuals to foreign countries a distinction a paper at a congress, .2.11of Ilisexpenses WOUM ‘ix ,let, iilmost instances, and. Dr. Failla stressed the desirability kcdieine of thu Atol:ic E~]ergy Commissionj that person should “oegiven preference. Dr. Fai-Lia further stated that he t;hinlcsit would be preferable not to pay all the expenses of such .1trip “butto expect the individual to ma!<e some contribution of his o-m. Therefore, after a full discussion it was the sense of thu Committee that arrangements for forei~n travel shoild be FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
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consiucred as rather flexibie and not be held r:.gidly to representing tk Atomic Ln.rgy Cbmxission whether or not to cc paid by funds iro~l the .~tomic dncrgy Commission. rule of onc person be rcgxrded as his eqcnses are minutes wcru mprovccl unanimously upon a Inotion by Dr. Warren and seconded by projects was opentid The discussion on tlm research intcrcstud In the ~:ork now being carri..d on It the lJniversity of Rochuster un.tier thu supervision of Dr. I.ouis Hempchnann. The rwport was sdmmarizcd by l~r. the -]lasma and urinary alino acids liv~r injury on the mortality of irradiated Clinical experiments :zre in progress on: (1) urinary corticords in radiction therapy patients; (2) eosinophil counts changes in irr~diated skin or of children whose %hymses wers include: (1) a studyof the freu glycine pool and the rate at FOR OFPIClliL USE ONLY
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free glycine pool in irradiated ancl~orm~l rats; (2) blood ilow in tisslc; (3) tissue brcakdc~~ in adrenalectomizud :mcinon-adren.~1 rats In connection with Lile over-all the Division visits a pr(jcct it is important out that wh.ri a staff rnembu of that the project lx brou[;ht to the It ww his view that if ~his procedure is follo17ed tn~r~ will not be any possibility for the inv..;tigator to f’ctilth~t he has no responsibility to thti previous vi~w that the ilimwith respect to the proj~ct. Tk Cominittec reilxrated their Commission should be advised from time to time that FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
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eastern part of thu ~]nitcd Stltes, and furtkrmore, that resemch contracts have ~een awarciud to colleges and universiti~s in all but four mo’des of cmtry to worthy invcsti~ators in small institutions. mmy small institutions cre not xmre that support is availiblc for research The remarks th?.tfollowed brougnt cut periodically pointing OU4 that the ~~toiticEnagy Commission (Division of diolog;; Likewise, such ‘:nmnoun(tim~nt could b~ made in the Journal of the .mtiricar..— Institutions, and sim;.l?l”journals. In addition, it was i“urthcr——_ contracts that ;Eivc b{..n:~cc.pt~d by the Division of ilioloCy and what llLSbeen accomplished under the sponsorship of the ..tomic lhergy Cornissicn. ;ilist of the projects of the mc+;sis of our r.search probram from the standpoint of the of punch cmds (1.B.1,.). He described the bquipmcnt and explained FOR OFFICliiL USE ONLY
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It IT2Spoint d out t h:lt an existing biologists from ..tomic Lnurgy Commission l:bor~torics and universities who might
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ATOMIC ENERGY COMMISSION Mr. Gordon Dean, Chairman The Advisory Committee for Biology and Medl.tineheld its thirty-fifth meeting in Washington on January 9 and 10, 1953. The agenda included a visit to the National Bureau of Standards where, we understand, the Atomic Energy Commission supports research in the amount of approximately $821,791 annually. Since $312,726 of this investment goes for the support of Biology and Medicine sponsored research, we were pleased to have an opportunity to Inspect the facilities. Our impression was a favorable one. The qu~llty of the research is excellent. Its pertinence and appliablllty to AEC problems will, of course, be partially dependent on the amount of personal attention given it by Its AEC sponsors. The close proxim~ty of these excellent facilities afford an enviable opportunity, it seems to us, for those technically inclined persons on the Washington staff, temporarily exiled to administration, to You will recall that In our last communication to you on December 28, 1952; reporting on our December 5-6 meeting at Brookhaven, we mentioned that due to the absence of several members at that meeting, action on certain items was deferred and that a combined report would be submitted on the December and January meetings. Of the many matters discussed, two items seem particularly noteworthy. Both were considered at the As a result of its special interest in Brookhaven National Laboratory the J51vlslon of Biology and Medicine has kept the Committee informed of significant developments In laboratory management and planning. We were aware, therefore, and our Inspection of laboratory facilities during our visit there _ tended to confirm, that BNL was rapidly approaching a crossroads where a declslon would have to be made--whether to attempt a program of rehabilitation of the temporary buildings which now house many critical parts of the laboratory, or to *Secretariat Note: On file In Division of Biology & Medicine.
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replace the former Camp Upton structures with new and permanent buildings. The decision to build permanent structures would admit of a somewhat longer productive life of the laboratory than would rehabilitation. Since either alternative would involve a slzeable capital outlay, which could be justified only if Brookhaven were meeting the needs of the northeastern Iuniversltiesand of the AEC, we invited Dr. Lloyd V, Berkner, ?resident of the Associated Unlversi.ties,Inc., to speak to ‘1son that point at the December meeting. He reported that ,(uring 1952 he had visited all the presidents and administrative officers of the universities represented on the Board of Trustees of AUI. A universal sense of permanence was found, he said, which would justify thlnklng of a long range plan for the replacement of the present temporary structures. A clue as to the degree to which Brookhaven has insinuated itself into the scientific life of the northeastern universities is to be found In the fact that scientists no longer have to be urged to take advantage of the laboratoryts facilities during the summer, but because of the physical limitations of the laboratory the staff must now pick and choose among those eligible to be invited. We understand that the Board of Trustees of AUI has instructed Dr. Berkner to obtain from each participating university a statement, signed by the President of each, as to the usefulness and value of Brookhsven In their academic pattern9. Copies of these statements are to be provided The other matter discussed at the December meeting had to do with research grants. As you know, we have been debating for over a year now the pros and cons of increasing overhead allowance on grant-llke research contracts> and whether or not the requirement of Joint participation should be continued. Souiewhat reluctantly we have come to the conclusion that it is a moot question. ~irst of all, any Increase in overhead allowance, or decrease in the requirement of joint partlclpatlon, would simply mean diverting to university administration funds now going directly Into research, Within the present and forecast budget cei.lin~ssuch a result would not only be of questionable desirability, but might be rather awkward to defend. The argument that unless some relief is forthcoming to hard-pressed universities research will suffer, is not without some validity. We wonder, however, whether the broad problem of financial aid to higher education might more properly be a matter for the consideration of the Congress. For still another reason we have been reluctant to advise the Division of Biology and Medicine to consider in their grant program the social and economic aspects of higher education: we are told that over 90~ of the Institutions holding biologyand medicine researcn contracts have voiced no ob~ection to the distinction made between research grants--where participation Is expected of the institution and a fixed overhead allowance Of 8$ is contributed by the AEC--and the purchase of research by
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the Commission, in which case actual costs are fully reimbursed. There are, of course, situations in which such a distinction cannot be nicely drawn and an administrative judgment must be made, In practice, however, this refined rule of thumb seems LO have worked very well, and while there has been some resistance to accepting it, there has been no difficulty in applying it. Our next meeting is to be held at the Argonne National “r.aboratoryon March 13 and 14, which dates we hope will coincide ‘./iththe dedication of the new Argonne Cancer Hospital. Very truly yours, Chairman, Advisory Committee for Bialogy and Medicine
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and referenceto the more complete tion Protection. New facilitiesbeing added: BetatronLaboratory Laboratory. Relationshipof AM! supportedprogramswith other The whole activityof this sectionconstitutesactuallya single this fiscalyear. Its objectiveis to strivetowardscomprehensive, detailedand continuedtheoreticaltreatmentof the projectof high energyradiationthroughmatterand of its successivetransfommtions. Only a minor portionof the necessarybasic knowledgeis itselfa majortask. The evaluationand disseminationactually supportedby the Biologyand Medicineprogramsto the extent Approximately10 minuteswill be taken at each of the discussions
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This laboratoryis concernedwith the testingof room air a?d breath samplesfor the presenceof radon. The aSSaYS of ores This laboratorycalibratesalpha ray standardschieflyfor use for the resolutionof alpharays of variousenergiesad an investigationis also being carriedout into the development tion of the radon contentof room air and breathsamples. The functionof this laboratoryis to stamiardizeartificially preparedradioactivenucl.idesand it chieflyreliesupon the methodof 41T counting. The routinedistributionof P-32 ad I-131 standardseverythreemonths is a regularpart of this laboratory:sprogramand it is hoped soon to set up standards An ionizationchamberis also to be used for the routine standardizationof ganmaray emitters. Using an extrapolationtype ionizationchamberin conjunction with a vibratingreed electrometer,a standardmethod for the has been set up. Preliminaryresultshave been Inter-compared with Dr. Faillatslaboratoryin lVewYork and with the National ResearchCouncilLaboratoryin Ottawa. The only discrepancy which existsis that arisingfrom the varyingcriteriaadopted ly the differentlaboratoriesregardingthe area of the applicator to be measured.
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This projectis for the development of a system for the monitoring of fall out from atomicbomb bursts. Severalremotelylocated detectorstationsare interrogatedover a radio link by the operatorat the controlstation. In responseto this interrogation, the detectorstationsradiothe desireddata back to the controlstationwhere it is displayedvisuallyand also automatically stampedon a digitalrecorder. Investigationof emulsionpropertiesand processingprocedures, developmentof a dosimeterdesignedto measurethe prompt radiationfrom an atomicexplosion,and intercomparisonof the presentpersonnelmonitoringservicesof the variousAEC 10, Evaluationand Testingof Radiation Study of new types and developmentalprototypesof radiation The calibrationofdosimetersand surveymetersusing 7-curie Cobalb60 sourcesas well as the 500 and 1400 kv X-ray generators. Study of cavityionizationchamberresponseas a functionof wall materialad photonenergyleadingto developmentof 12. Measurementof Very Soft and R@ Low energyguarded-fieldionizationchamberused for determining chamberdesign criteriaas well.as for regularcalibrationof instrumentsin the 5 - 50 Nmnge d at dosagerates up to
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tion by determiningthe numberof Comptonelectronsejectedin the forwarddirectionfroma thin berylliumfoil. It is now set Studiesof the interactionof electronswith matter. Current problemsincludedepth dose in differentatomicnumbermaterials and distributionof ionizationin gases. This instrumentis presentlybeing convertedfroma 0.5 ~ 200 kv proton sourceto a high intensityneutronsource. It will be used firstto determinethe attenuationof monoenergetichigh Presentproblemsincludethe attenuationof betatronradiation tions in new NCRP handbookfor high energyelectronaccelerators. X-ray spectrometermeasurementsof the energiesof high lhergydose rate measurementsin waterusing anthracene