Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory Life Science Division technical records of Robert K. Mortimer,
Undated
Repository
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Archives and Records Office
1 Cyclotron Rd. MS: 69R0102
Berkeley, California 94720
USA
https://commons.lbl.gov/display/aro/Archives+and+Records
aro@lbl.gov
Papers created by
Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. Life Sciences Division
Size of collection
6.25 linear feet
5 records boxes
Short description of collection
These records document biophysicist and professor Robert K. Mortimer's research in the genetics of yeast and related organisms. Of interest in this collection are Mortimer's notebooks from the 1950s, and his materials documenting the Yeast Genetics Stock Center.
Language(s) of collection
English
Collection number:
ARO-5425
The laboratory was founded as the University of California Radiation Laboratory in 1931 by Ernest Orlando Lawrence, a University of California Berkeley physicist who won the 1939 Nobel Prize in physics for his invention of the cyclotron, a circular particle accelerator that opened the door to high-energy physics. It is a United States Department of Energy National Laboratory, operated by the University of California. The name changed to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in 1995.
Biophysicist Robert K. Mortimer (Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley, 1953) was assistant professor of genetics at Berkeley beginning in 1956, became full professor in 1966, chaired the division of medical physics from 1972 to 1978, and served as chair of the Department of Biophysics and Medical Physics from 1984 to 1987. He also was affiliated with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where he served for a year as acting director of the lab's Human Genome Project.
Mortimer came to Berkeley in the early 1950s to study the impact of radiation on the survival of cells. He created strains of yeast with multiple copies of each chromosome, and discovered that more chromosomes led paradoxically to greater X-ray sensitivity. This led to his studies of the cell processes that protect them from physical and chemical damages to their DNA. The RAD genes discovered in these studies are the foundation of most contemporary studies of how higher cells repair damage to their DNA.
By the mid-1970s, Mortimer had created a genetic map of a yeast (Saccharomyces) with multiple mutations marking all the chromosomes, which he used to research how x-rays cause cell death. Even with a workable genetic map, Saccharomyces would have failed as an experimental organism except for another of Mortimer's innovations. Unlike other fungi whose spores are easy to isolated and cultivate, the four spores from Saccharomyces’ spores are born in an ascus that seems to be armor plated. In 1959, Mortimer and his colleague Johnston discovered that one could use the digestive juice of a snail to break that armor and liberate the spores for genetic analysis, and it was then possible for one person to more easily analyze thousands of meioses.
This discovery led to the development of a gene conversion process in Saccharomyces, which allows the information on one chromosome to be copied into the homologous chromosome, replacing the information that was there. Mortimer and colleagues produced the wealth of data on gene conversion that eventually led to the methods that allow gene replacements to be done in many different organisms.
Yeast divide by budding, leading to populations of genetically identical cells, and in 1959 Mortimer and Johnston discovered that individual cells in a culture of yeast can have very different life spans, depending upon whether the cell is a mother cell or a bud. Mortimer’s work on yeast aging set the stage for the discovery of the first genes affecting aging, and whose function is conserved from yeast to metazoans.
Mortimer also created the free Saccharomyces stock center to house thousands of strains of yeast that he thought would be of interest to the scientific community. A researcher could request any strain, and pay only the shipping to send the strain. This generous service did much to create a culture of sharing which still characterizes the yeast genetic community to this day. In 2002 Mortimer received the George W. Beadle Award from the Genetics Society of America in recognition of his many contributions that created the community of approximately 10,000 yeast genetic researchers.
Following his official retirement from UC, Mortimer spent 10 years in affiliation with the University of Florence, where he researched the genetic properties of yeast strains used in wine production.
These records document LBL scientist and UC Berkeley professor Robert K. Mortimer's groundbreaking work with yeast.
These records document biophysicist and professor Robert K. Mortimer's research in the genetics of yeast and related organisms. Using yeast cells, Mortimer studied the impact of radiation on the survival of cells and discovered that an increase in chromosomes in a cell led paradoxically to greater x-ray sensitivity. This discovery led to his famous studies of the many processes that all cells have to protect them from various physical and chemical damages to their DNA. Indeed, the so called RAD genes that were discovered in these studies are the foundation of most contemporary studies of how higher cells repair damage to their DNA. Mortimer created the saccharomyces stock center, which housed the many thousands of strains of yeast that his group created and made these strains available for genetic research. Of interest in this collection are Mortimer's notebooks from the 1950s, and his materials documenting the Yeast Genetics Stock Center.
This collection requires permission for access. Please contact the repository for more information, via email at aro@lbl.gov.
These papers have been indexed in the
International Catalog of Sources for History of Physics and Allied Sciences (ICOS)
using the following terms. Those seeking related materials should search under these terms.
Persons
Mortimer, Robert K.
Institutions
Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory
Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. Life Sciences Division
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Lawrence Berkeley Radiation Laboratory
Subject terms
Biophysics
Genetics.
Yeast
Title
Finding Aid to the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory Life Science Division technical records of Robert K. Mortimer, 1950-1999
Publisher
American Institute of Physics Niels Bohr Library & Archives
One Physics Ellipse
College Park, MD 20740
USA
nbl@aip.org
2012
Encoding Information
Machine-readable finding aid encoded by Melanie J. Mueller in 2012. Any revisions made to this finding aid occurred as part of the editing and encoding process.
| Box 1 |
Folder 1 |
Yeast Project 5-1 Logbook, undated |
|
Folder 2 |
Yeast Project 5-2 Logbook, undated |
|
Folder 3 |
Yeast Project 5-3 Logbook, undated |
|
Folder 4 |
Research #1 Logbook, undated |
|
Folder 5 |
Logbook #4 Yeast Research, undated |
|
Folder 6 |
Research #5 Logbook, undated |
|
Folder 7 |
Research #6 [Logbook], undated |
|
Folder 8 |
Research #7 Gamma-Ray Pinhole Camera, undated |
|
Folder 9 |
Logbook #9 Yeast Radiobiology, undated |
|
Folder 10 |
R.K. Mortimer Research #15 Logbook, 1956 |
|
Folder 11 |
Research #16 [Logbook], undated |
|
Folder 12 |
Research #18 Logbook, undated |
|
Folder 13 |
Logbook #21, undated |
|
Folder 14 |
Mortimer Dissertation: Cytological and Environmental Factors Related to the Effects of Radiations on Yeast Cells, undated |
|
Folder 15 |
Correspondence, 1967-1968 |
|
Folder 16 |
Lindegren [Correspondence], 1967 |
|
Folder 17 |
Stock Center Research - Survival of Strains from Milk-Replica Storage - J. Bassell, 1973 |
|
Folder 18 |
Yeast Stock Center Protocol for Stock Storage Technique, 1975 |
|
Folder 19 |
Procedure for Preservation of Yeast Cultures - Procedure for Reviving Strains - SC and SM, undated |
|
Folder 20 |
Stock Center, 1976-1977 |
|
Folder 23 |
DOE 189 (1978) 3669-18, 4419-01, 1978 |
|
Folder 25 |
189 C.V., undated |
| Box 2 |
Folder 1 |
Request for Granting to NSF for YGSC, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1982 |
|
Folder 2 |
YGSC (1981-) Fermentation - Petite, 1981- |
|
Folder 3 |
YGSC (1981-) Mapping (Sample) - Diploids, 1981- |
|
Folder 4 |
YGSC (1981-) Nutritional Testers Adc-His, 1981- |
|
Folder 5 |
YGSC (1981-) Nutritional Testers IW-URA, 1981- |
|
Folder 6 |
YGSC (1981-) Suppressible Alleles - Sterile Yeast Mutants, 1981- |
|
Folder 7 |
YGSC (1981-) Temp Sensitive Lethals Prot. Synth - rNA Synth, 1981- |
| Box 3 |
Folder 1 |
YGSC (1981-) Temp Sensitive Lethals (undefined) Factor, 1981- |
|
Folder 2 |
YGSC (1981-) Wild Type - Mapping (Multiply), 1981- |
|
Folder 3 |
Isabel, Francois Correspondence, 1980s |
|
Folder 4 |
Correspondence with John Wood, Lily Research Laboratories / MBS, 1983 |
|
Folder 5 |
Final Completion Report to SPO for YGSC, 1981-1984, 1979-1981 |
|
Folder 6 |
YGSC Grant Proposal to NSF and Letters of Review - Grant, 1984 |
|
Folder 7 |
Renewal of Grant YGSC, 1984 |
|
Folder 8 |
Correspondence Regarding ATCC and Stock Centers, 1984 |
|
Folder 9 |
Grant Proposal for Renewal to NSH OF, 1984-1987 |
|
Folder 10 |
Progress Report YGSC, 1985-1986 |
|
Folder 11 |
YGSC NSF Propsal, 1987 |
|
Folder 12 |
YGSC NIH Proposal 1987, Award Letter, 1987 |
|
Folder 13 |
Lists of Users of YGSC 1984, 1985, 1987; Letter to Louise Ramm, NIH February 16, 1988, 1984-1988 |
|
Folder 14 |
Becky C. and J.J. [Yeast Genetic Stock Center Materials], 1986 |
|
Folder 15 |
Miscellaneous Correspondence YGSC, 1988- |
|
Folder 16 |
Progress Report (July) NIH and Grant Award for Second Year (September), 1988 |
|
Folder 17 |
NIH Progress Report (July) and Grant Award for Third Year, 1989 |
|
Folder 18 |
NIH Renewal Continuation (1990-1991) and Award Letter, undated |
|
Folder 19 |
Yeast Genetic Stock Center ASM Meeting Dallas, May 1991 |
|
Folder 20 |
Culture Collections - Dallas - Meeting, May 1991 |
|
Folder 21 |
Tables Map, May 1991 |
|
Folder 22 |
NIH Awards for Five Years, July 1991 |
|
Folder 23 |
RKM - Basel, Switzerland - Correspondence with Lab, etc., July-November 1991 |
|
Folder 24 |
Animal Resources Bulletin Request for Information and Our Reply - Application to US Fed of Culture Collect (June) - Publication to Guide to Grants and Dollars, 1991 |
|
Folder 25 |
Award Letters, NIH Grant Proposal 1991, NTCC 1993 Directory Federal Lab 1993 Letter Making Alex Nichols PI, 1991-1993 |
|
Folder 26 |
YGSC UC Berkeley Correspondence, 1991 |
|
Folder 27 |
Correspondence and Support Items for 1994 NIH YGSC Renewal, 1994 |
|
Folder 28 |
Progress Report Award Letter, 1994 |
|
Folder 29 |
YGSC NIH 1994 Report Final - Awarded 1995 for 1996, July 21, 1995 |
|
Folder 30 |
1994 Progress Report Tables, 1994 |
|
Folder 31 |
Support for 1995 YGSC Progress Report, 1995 |
|
Folder 32 |
Directories YGSC, 1997 |
|
Folder 33 |
[Stock Center Data?], undated |
| Box 4 |
Folder 1 |
[Stock Center Data?], undated |
|
Folder 2 |
[Index Cards - Stock Center?], undated |
|
Folder 3 |
B. Kirsop Correspondence for YGSC Catalogue, etc., 1987 |
|
Folder 4 |
Stock Center Catalogue, 1975 |
|
Folder 5 |
Genetic Map for Stock Center Catalogue, 1987 |
|
Folder 6 |
Stock Center Catalogue 6th Edition, October 1987 |
|
Folder 7 |
Stock Center Catalogue 6th Edition, October 1987 |
|
Folder 8 |
Stock Center Catalogue 7th Edition, 1991 |
|
Folder 9 |
Stock Center Catalogue 8th Edition, 1995 |
|
Folder 10 |
Stock Center Catalogue 8th Edition, 1995 |
|
Folder 11 |
Time Sheets Becky, 1986-1992 |
|
Folder 12 |
ACACIA, undated |
|
Folder 13 |
[Wine] 1993, undated |
|
Folder 14 |
[Wine] 1994, undated |
|
Folder 15 |
Florence [Correspondence], 1994-1995 |
|
Folder 16 |
Correspondence with Bacardi and Jim Brand, 1995 |
|
Folder 17 |
[Mortimer-Contopoulou Correspondence], 1996 |
|
Folder 18 |
South Africa Strains, 1996-1997 |
|
Folder 19 |
STAR Project Communications with Alexis - Correspondence Italy, 1996 |
|
Folder 20 |
Entian Florence - Arrangements for Transferring Stock, 1997 |
|
Folder 21 |
Bernard Prior - Glycerol, undated |
|
Folder 22 |
Vintage Data Sheet, 1996 |
|
Folder 23 |
LALL X XPB3, 1998 |
|
Folder 24 |
Fatty Acids, undated |
|
Folder 25 |
Stuck Fermentation, 1998 |
|
Folder 26 |
Fermentations Prove Di Fermentazioni, undated |
|
Folder 27 |
Protocols / Perugia - Strains / S.P. Wine Yeast (spore to spore) / Auxtrophic Marker Crosses / Wine Yeast, undated |
|
Folder 28 |
Amber Suppressor, undated |
|
Folder 29 |
Far Niente / Grape Berries / Flavonoids - Antociani, undated |
|
Folder 30 |
PDM Brushing, undated |
|
Folder 31 |
PDM - Brushing Program, undated |
| Box 5 |
Folder 1 |
Imcroci Fiorentini XMP 1014, undated |
|
Folder 2 |
Mormoniella Logbook, undated |
|
Folder 3 |
Logbook, undated |
|
Folder 4 |
ar4 tr5 ad6 Fine Structure Mapping, undated |
|
Folder 5 |
[Firenze Logbook], 1992-1993 |
|
Folder 6 |
Firenze [Logbook], 1996-1997 |
|
Folder 7 |
[Firenze Logbook], 1998 |
|
Folder 8 |
Firenze [Logbook], 1999 |
|
Folder 9 |
Ba Strains, undated |
|
Folder 10 |
[Wine Notebook], undated |
|
Folder 11 |
1995 Florence [Logbook], 1995 |
|
Folder 12 |
Viewgraphs, undated |
|
Folder 13 |
Proposal: Studies on Stuck Fermentations, 1998-1999 |
|
Folder 14 |
Office of Technology Licensing, undated |
|
Folder 15 |
Tom Stickel Emails re: Venture Capital, undated |
|
Folder 16 |
Genome Reviews, undated |
|
Folder 17 |
Office of Technology Transfer: Proprietary Information, undated |
|
Folder 18 |
Correspondence with Gordon Burns, undated |
|
Folder 21 |
Patents, undated |
