| Administrative History | Avram Goldstein, pharmacologist and neuroscientist, Professor Emeritus of Pharmacology, Stanford University.
His career has been 'devoted mainly to research on addictive drugs -- primarily the opiates, the opioid peptides, and their receptors. For 34 years until 1989 he was at Stanford University as director of the Addiction Research Foundation at Palo Alto.
His laboratory research laid the basis for studying the opiate receptors, and he discovered one of the three families of opioid peptides -- the dynorphins.
He established the first methadone program in California, in San Jose. There, and later at the Addiction Research Foundation, he and his colleagues contributed important research findings on the use of methadone, LAAM, and naltrexone in the treatment of heroin addicts. He also played a key role in the development of rapid and efficient on-site urine tests for illicit drug use'.
'A member of the National Academy of Sciences (recently chairman of the Section of Physiology and Pharmacology) and also of its Institute of Medicine, he is a recipient of many awards including the Franklin Medal, Nathan B. Eddy Award, and Sollmann Award. He served two terms on the National Advisory Council of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. He is an honorary professor of the Beijing Medical University and of the Institute of Materia Medica of the Academia Sinica. Formerly scientific advisor to the Syva Company, the DNAX Research Institute, Receptron, Inc., and Abbott Laboratories, he is presently a consultant to Receptron, Inc., Neurobiological Technologies, Inc. and the drug discovery company Affymax, N.V. (of which he is a Founder Scientist)'.
Cited from 'The College on Problems of Drug Dependence' web page, 'Avram Goldstein, M.D.', http://www.cpdd.vcu.edu/Pages/Index/AwardBios/GoldsteinAvram.html (2005).
The 'Narcotice Research Information Exchange' [BULLETIN], which Goldstein proposed at the beginning of 1970, was an informal exchange of information among people studying opiate narcotics, such as in the 'form of workshop sessions, direct telephone communication, regular exchange of pre - prints, visits to laboratories, and circulation of informal not - for - publication bulletins. An example of the latter is Microbial Genetics Bulletin'. Goldstein proposed to initiate a similar bulletin for people studying opiate narcotics.
Goldstein also proposed in 1970, a [NON - BULLETIN] 'Narcotic Research Information Exchange (NRIE)'. According to Goldstein, the purpose of NRIE would be 'to foster rapid infomal communication of work in progress or just completed, in order to promote freer and more frequent interactions among investigators in the important field of narcotic research'. According to Goldstein's 'principles', 'NRIE is not a publication' and 'Anyone interested in narcotic research may join NRIE upon payment of the MEMBERSHIP FEE'.
According to the file, Jolie Ancel, Associate Producer, worked for WQED/West, producers of the National Geographic Specials, Planet Earth, and in 1991, 'The Infinite Voyage' science series. According to the correspondence, this 'series in association with the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), is produced for both National Public Television and syndicated television'. Fax, dated 20 February 1991, from Goldstein, explains that he is chairing an advisory panel for the programme about drugs and the brain.
According to the file, the term 'endorphin', which describes the 'not - yet - identified endogenous peptides', was coined by Goldstein and Eric Simon during breakfast at Airlie House in 1975. Goldstein and Kosterlitz introduced the term 'opioid' at an INRC [International Narcotics Research Club, or Conference] meeting in the late 1970s. See memorandum, dated 20 April 1991. |
| Description | The earliest letters in the file were written January - February 1969, whilst Goldstein was enjoying a sabbatical at the University of Cambridge. The remainder and bulk of the correspondence dates from his Stanford period.
Includes correspondence, dated January - February 1969, relating to Kosterlitz's invitation to Goldstein to give a lecture in Aberdeen. Goldstein declined the invitation as he was on a sabbatical.
Correspondence from 1970, relate to Goldstein's intended visit to Aberdeen, which he eventually had to postpone; Goldstein's proposed 'Narcotic Research Information Exchange' bulletin, in which Kosterlitz declined to participate, and the [non - bulletin] 'Narcotic Research Information Exchange (NRIE), in which Kosterlitz did participate.
Correspondence discusses Kosterlitz's and Goldstein's respective research and work, the sending of samples for scientific experiments and exchange of preprints.
Brief correspondence, dated April 1973, relate to travel grants Kosterlitz was trying to receive for John Hughes to speak at the Satellite Session of the [INRC].
Brief correspondence, dated October - December 1974, relating to a proposed short - term placement with Goldstein for Kosterlitz's student, Philip Whitehurst. The placement did not take place. N. B. ?remains closed under data protection legislation.
Brief correspondence, dated June - July 1975, regarding the 'Nomenclature of endogenous opioid peptides' and the argument for a name proposed by Eric Simon to describe that term: 'Endorphine'. See memorandum, dated 20 April 1991, which relates to the coining of 'endorphin' and 'opioid'.
Includes a letter, dated 12 August 1975, from Goldstein to Dr Solomon H. Snyder, Department of Pharmacology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland and 'your choir', regarding Goldstein's 'entry into our contest of glee - clubs' and a piece of music ['And He Shall Purify'] entitled 'A Handel on the Endorphin Problem'.
Correspondence, dated November 1977 - January 1978, regarding the arrangements for Kosterlitz's and Hanna's visit to see Goldstein, as part of Kosterlitz's visit to Vancouver for a 'symposium organized by the Canadian Society for Clinical Investigation' and to San Francisco and Palo Alto.
Letter, dated 5 March 1980, from Goldstein, explains that Goldstein's colleague, Dr Brian M. Cox, may need to find a senior position in the fields of pharmacology and neuroscience, as the Addiction Research Foundation may be unable to guarantee its permanence as an independent institution. Letter asks a number of people in the fields of pharmacology and neuroscience if they know of such a position, which might be suitable for Cox. N.B. ?remains closed under data protection legislation.
Letter, dated 19 April 1983, from Goldstein, relates to his attempt to standardise some scientific terms, including the calling of receptors 'opioid' rather than 'opiate'. Enclosed with Goldstein's draft of the INRC Commission on Nomenclature report, dated 1 June 1983.
Letter, dated 16 August 1983, from Goldstein, enclosed with copies of the humorous slides Kosterlitz missed at the opening session of INRC at Garmisch. One of the slides illustrates that the International Narcotic Research Club is now known as the International Narcotic Research Conference.
File includes a typescript copy of Avram Goldstein, 'Opiate Peptides: Function and Significance' from H.O.J. Collier, J. Hughes, M. J. Rance and M.B. Tyers, eds., 'Opioids: Past, Present and Future: Proceedings of symposium to celebrate the 80th birthday of Prof. H.W. Kosterlitz, Churchill College, Cambridge, April 11, 1983' (London).
Also includes typescript copy of Avram Goldstein, 'The Dynorphin Peptides', from 'Peptides: Structure and Function. Proceedings of the Eighth American Peptide Symposium, Tucson, Arizona, May 22 - 27, 1983'.
There is only one letter from 1986, which is the letter, dated 18 September 1986, from Goldstein to Dr Eckard Weber, Senior Scientist, I.A.B.R., Associate Professor, Departments of Biochemistry & Psychiatry, Portland, Oregon.
Includes brief correspondence, dated March 1987, between Goldstein and Dr Herman M. Rhee, Associate Professor of Pharmacology, Oral Roberts University, Tulsa, Oklahoma, regarding Rhee's proposed meeting, which would be 'devoted to the role of opioid peptides in biological systems, particularly cardiovascular and pulmonary systems', and held in West Germany, August or September 1988.
Letters, dated September - October 1987, relate to the reprint of the [Otto] Krayer Memoir.
File includes a typescript copy of Avram Goldstein and Asha Naidu, 'Stereoselectivity in the interaction of levorphanol and dextrorphan with opioid receptors', dated 4 November 1989.
Significantly, the letter, dated 6 November 1989, from Goldstein, is addressed to Professor Hans W Kosterlitz, rather than Doctor Hans W Kosterlitz.
File includes a copy of Avram Goldstein and Asha Naidu, 'Multiple Opioid Receptors: Ligand Selectivity Profiles and Binding Site Signatures' from 'Molecular Pharmacology', 36 (1989), 265 - 272.
Includes correspondence, dated March - May 1991, between Kosterlitz and Jolie Ancel, Associate Producer, WQED/West, Los Angeles, regarding Kosterlitz's contribution to the one - hour documentary on Drugs and the Brain for 'The Infinite Voyage' science television series. An interview with Kosterlitz and re - creation of some of his experiments, including the discovery of enkephalins, at Aberdeen University in June 1991 was intially proposed, but did not occur. Fax, dated 30 May 1991, from Stephen Eder, Producer, WQED/West, asks whether Kosterlitz might provide photographs of himself for use in the film.
Includes a memorandum, dated 20 April 1991, from Goldstein, regarding the standardisation of scientific terms, particularly 'opiate' and 'opioid'. Memorandum provides a brief history about the term 'endorphin' and 'opioid'.
Letter, dated 1 May 1992, from Goldstein, relates to Kosterlitz joining 'Section 23, Physiology and Pharmacology' of the National Academy of Sciences.
File includes typescript entitled: 'Binding selectivity profile: Proposed uniform format. We propose the following uniform convention for describing the binding selectivity profile of a ligand'.
Also, Avram Goldstein, 'Recent Studies on Binding of Opiate Narcotics to Possible Receptor Site' reprinted from Arnold J. Mandell, ed., 'New Concepts in Neurotransmitter Regulation' (New York).
There are a number of gaps in the correspondence: between February 1969 and January 1970; summer 1970 and April 1971; April 1971 and July 1972; July 1972 and April 1973; June 1973 and October 1974; December 1974 and June 1975; August - December 1975; October 1975 and November 1977; January 1978 and December 1979; December 1979 and March 1980; July 1980 and January 1982; January - July 1982; August 1982 and February 1983; August 1983 and September 1986; September 1986 and March 1987; March - September 1987; October - January 1988; January - August 1988; 1988 - November 1989; December 1989 and February 1991; and 1991 and May 1992. |