Letter from Baruj Benacerraf to Michael Heidelberger

In this letter Baruj Benacerraf congratulated Heidelberger on winning the Lasker Award in Basic Medical Science in 1953, and reported on research he did with polyglucose and polysaccharides sent to him by Heidelberger. At the time Benacerraf was studying the interplay between different immune cells in rats and guinea pigs. He later became one of the discoverers of the major histocompatibility complex and its role in regulating the function of the immune system, an achievement for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1980. Benacerraf's mentor at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, Elvin Kabat, had been Heidelberger's first doctoral student.