STATEMENT BY FRANK H. RUDDLE 
Department of Biology, Yale University 
My name is Frank H. Ruddle. I speak for no organized group, but 
mainly for myself. I am a cell biologist and geneticist. I have been 
a faculty member in the Department of Biology, Yale University since 1961, 
in which I now serve as chairman. At Yale I served as chairman of the 
Biological Safety Advisory Committee, which regulates recombinant DNA 
research at our university. I am proud of the fact that the city of New 
Haven is actively represented on that committee. All meetings are open 
to the public. There is to my knowledge no opposition within the univer- 
sity or the city to implementation of the revised guidelines. 
My professional interest is somatic cell genetics. This discipline 
is concerned with an understanding of the genetic organization and function 
of mammalian chromosomes, especially those of man. An important technique 
in my studies is cell hybridization, which permits one to literally fuse, 
mouse and human cells to produce viable, healthy hybrid cells which can 
be propagated in tissue culture. In such hybrid cell populations, one can 
trace the loss of human chromosomes and correlate that loss with particular 
human traits. In this way it has been possible to use hybrid cells to map 
human genes to particular human chromosomes. Since 1970 more than 200 genes 
have been mapped in man using this technique. 
The basic knowledge gained has contributed to our understanding of 
primate evolution and the mode of action of gene mutations which result 
in specific genetic abnormalities. Citing a specific case, these studies 
have resulted in a better understanding of the genetic control of the 
interferon system, which is instrumental in protecting the organism from 
viral infection and which shows promise as an anticancer therapeutic agent. 
Also, information has been provided on many other interesting and important 
biological systems. 
Until the advent of the recombinant DNA technology, the somatic 
cell genetic technique could only analyze the human genetic material at 
a low level of resolution. Making use of recombinant DNA procedures, 
it is now possible to continue the study of human genetics at very high 
levels of resolution. 
Using nucleic hybridization techniques, our laboratory in collabora- 
tion with an NIH research group has recently mapped the human genes 
for the a and b globins. This knowledge now provides new possibilities 
for experiments dealing with a better understanding of the control of 
hemoglobin expression with obvious relevance to genetic, developmental, 
and environmentally induced abnormalities involving human hemoblobins. 
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