In a final effort to save the project, Pauling submitted one last application, noting
the success of his experiments with both animal and human patients. To aid his cause,
Pauling attempted to find support at the source, sending individual letters to key
members of the CMR. In October 1944, the CMR responded to his requests for aid, providing
a $10,000, nine-month grant. The CMR had previously assured Pauling that the Committee
would arrange any necessary physiological tests that could not be completed at Caltech
and, upon renewal of the Oxypolygelatin contract, they reaffirmed this promise.
While Pauling waited for the CMR to complete arrangements for testing, he and his
team continued to refine the production process, ironing out wrinkles that had developed
over the course of their frantic experimentation. During the early months of the Oxypolygelatin
program, Pauling had corresponded often with Robert Loeb, a researcher at the College
of Physicians and Surgeons in New York. In a 1943 letter to Loeb he wrote, "It looks
as though our method of preparation is not well enough standardized to give a uniform
product - the osmotic pressure varies from preparation to preparation. With some evidence
from the ultracentrifuge as to how the distribution in molecular weight is changing,
we should be able to improve the method."
The lack of uniformity in the substance was a problem for Pauling and his team. In
order to locate the irregularities, the researchers needed results from a series of
physiological tests. The CMR, however, had yet to arrange for the promised tests and
Pauling's grant was about to expire.
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