August 8, 1977
Dear Mike:
Many thanks for your letter.  Although I realize the prospects may not be very rosy, I am inclined to submit a number of proposals to GMAG and see what happens.  Could you provide me with the necessary forms or, at least, the address from which I could obtain them?  How long does it generally take to obtain a verdict?  Are you or anyone else at ICRF using procaryotic host-vector systems for cloning?  If not, do you suggest that I pretend to be competent (and become so by doing things in Goodman's or Boyer's lab before coming) or that I propose to do the cloning with an additional collaboratory (e.g., Peter Rigby)?  For your interest, I enclose the letter we used (unsuccessfully) to plead our case with NIH; the attenuated strains, incidentally, are now in our possession.  I would be curious to know how you plan to avoid cloning endogenous viral {MMTV or MuLV) genes.  Do you plan to use a selection method to clone the cellular TK?
I look forward to hearing more from you about all this.
With best regards,
Harold E. Varmus, M.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Microbiology