Department of Health and Human Services Public Health Service, Grant Application

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Principal investigator/Program Director (Last, first, middle)

Duesber, Peter H.

BUDGET JUSTIFICATION
Personnel
Three individuals at UC Berkeley will devote effort to this project: the Principal
Investigator, postdoctoral associate Ruhong Li, and graduate student Bryan Ellison.
The Principal Investigator and postdoctoral associate Ruhong Li will carry out the tissue
culture toxicity and carcinogenicity tests of amyl nitrites. The toxicity tests will be
conducted on human T-cell lines, RH9 and CEM, growing in suspension culture. The
effects of nitrites on the doubling rate of T-cells will be recorded as a measure of
toxicity.
The carcinogenicity studies will be conducted on mouse and hamster cell monolayers in
growth media or under a soft (0.5%) agar overlay. Nitrites will be included in the
growth medium at micromolar concentrations, and cells will be inspected for
morphological transformation as indications of carcinogenicity.
Graduate student Bryan Ellison will play an integral role in the animal tests of nitrite
toxicity, performing the diagnoses and immunological measurements, and cell culture
work necessary to propagate retrovirus for infection of mice and detection of the virus
in mice. Ellison has already published two papers on neoplastic transformation in cell
culture. Support for Graduate Student Researchers (GSRs) is provided from
department funds for the first three years of study. Faculty Principal Investigators are
required to provide full support for their graduate students at the onset of the fourth
year of study. The students receive support equivalent to approximately one-half a
Graduate Student Researchship but devote 100% effort to the project(s) from which they
are paid.
Two months of summer salary per year is requested for the Principal Investigator.
The toxicological portions of the project will be undertaken at UC Davis, under the
direction of Co-Investigator Otto G. Raabe. Participating as veterinary pathologist will
be Mohammed A. S. Al-Bayati (50% effort). S. Teague, Staff Research Associate IV (20%
effort), will focus on inhalation aspects of the research, while D. Uyeminami, Staff
Research Associate II (20% effort), will act as toxicologist, and M. Conard, Staff Research
Associate 1, (20% effort) as histopathologist. We also request minimal support for D.
Schroeder (4% effort), who will be in charge of bookkeeping for the project.
The salaries listed conform to established University of California salary scales and
include both annual merit increases of 5% for eligible employees, and 5% range
adjustments for academics and non-academics at each July 1.
These range adjustment projection rates are authorized and established by the
University Systemwide administration for use in calculating proposal budgets. The
following benefit rates used for employees are also established and authorized by the
University Systemwide administration for use in proposal preparation:

PHS398 (Rev.9/91). (Form Page 3) Page 8 EE
Number pages consecutively at the bottom thoroughout the application. Do not use suffixes such as 3a, 3b.