Statement by Judyth Vary Bake Re: the 1961 Melanogensis Project, etc.
April
27, 2008
1. Soon after my arrival at St. Francis, only a week after leaving Dr.
Moore's personal lab at Roswell Park in Buffalo, New York, I was given my
own lab. It has been established that SFC had a fine medical technology
program, and I was immediately able to cintinue my work. I began with
tissue
cultures created by using my own blood, and inner cheek cell scrapings, to
get things rolling.
2. Newspapers had already re****ted that I was assigned to determine what
makes "cancer more deadly." Equipment and 200 tissue culture flasks,
RMPI
medium, and live melanoma cells (RMPI-grown hamster) were flown to
Indianapolis from Roswell Park, then brought to me. The two immediate
goals
were (1) to prove I could successfully propagate these melanoma cells on
my
own, and (2) to accelerate the standard growth rate of the melanoma strain
sent to me, establi****ng new statistical benchmarks.
3. By early October, I had accomplished these goals.
4. Three nuns trained in oncology and the medical arts drove me to Notre
Dame to meet members of the Indiana Biological Association, where the nuns
vouched for the work I presented there in a paper. The trip was paid for
by
the Indiana Biological Association. The meeting occurred early in the
second week of October. These several doctors then contacted the Academy
and got me put on the conference agenda, as presenting the paper at the
Academy would establish provenance for my work. The abstract that
survives
indicates that the work was ongoing, with more to come.
5. The nuns made these trips and exertions not because I was a sweet
freshman girl with a smiling face, but because my presence, doing cancer
research at St. Francis College at only 18 years old, was generating
attention, with promises of significant funding from such entities as the
American Cancer Society, the National Science Foundation, NIH, and Eli
Lilly, which had a presence in Fort Wayne.
6. In 1961, newspaper articles and other exterior records show St. Francis
was soliciting mega-funds to construct a new technology building,
including
a planetarium. After I was forced to leave St. Francis, promised funds
from
my sponsors to SFC failed to materialize. I do not presume to know all
the
reasons why SFC shelved its plans for the new technology building for a
decade, but SFC was motivated to sup****t my work, and to encourage my
sponsors to keep sup****ting it.
7. The paper shows I was working with an exclusive strain of melanoma
from
Roswell Park, not available outside RPMI except by special permission.
This
was an ongoing project, researching ways to promote faster melanoma
mitosis
rates. In other words, just as newspapers re****ted, I was engaged in
research to make cancer more deadly (make it grow faster). That's what
mitosis is all about.
8. Sister Clare assured Academy members and conferees at Terre Haute that
she had overseen my lab work at St. Francis and could verify my results.
That was her sole function as "co-presenter," for she had no previous
access
to RMPI melanoma strains, nor to RPMI's new in vitro mediums, before my
arrival.
9. I have always acknowledged the sup****t of the three medically-trained
nuns who trans****ted me to these events. However, though SFC had the
facilities, I was the only person at SFC whose cancer research involving
melanoma propagation of any kind, in vitro, was ever presented to any
conference, before or after 1961, for decades. This project was 100% my
work, and was respected.
10. The Indiana Biological Association re****ted to the American Cancer
Society in the Gulf Coast area that I would present my work to them.
Nobody
'investigated' this association of Indiana-based doctors and scientists,
who
wanted newspapers to run stories to encourage young people to become
scientists.
11. There were so many articles in papers about me, that in one case only
"Judy" was enough to identify me to readers (in the St. Petersburg Times
Suncoast Society section of that out-of-town newspaper in 1961, written by
Pat Piper). Mrs. Georgia Watkins kept the ACS informed, as well, as
mentioned in an October letter (saved because Watkins was dying from
stomach
cancer, and I cared about her). Re****ters also contacted me. I helped
campaign for cancer funds and cancer awareness, a concern that Watkins'
extant letter mentions. My research was ongoing and available for
inspection at all times, and was being inspected and encouraged at all
times.
12. After providing documented evidence of success in keeping melanoma
strains alive, with statistics confirming my ability to accelerate
propagation rates (on record via the paper presented at the Academy), I
was
immediately sent im****tant human melanoma cells from RPMI.
13. I next received SV40-infected polyoma cancer cells, and looked
forward
to working with human SV40 infected cancer cells after proving I could
propagate and accelerate the growth of these materials, as well. However,
I
never got the chance.
14. I never got the chance because the nuns convinced me to join their
order the same day they drove me to and from Terre Haute, promising I
could
continue on in cancer research -- in peace. I was working long hours to
meet the research benchmarks demanded, but still had to attend classes and
find time to eat and sleep. The nuns saw that my life was not my own.
Doctors had told me I could not become a mother (that turned out to be
false!), a big factor in my decision to enter the Order, as I had been
taught, as a good traditional Catholic, that it was immoral to marry if I
knew I could not bear children.
15. My parents accused the good nuns of brainwa****ng me, and removed me at
midnight on October 31, 1961, returning me by car to Florida.
Irreplaceable
papers, the live cancer cells, and documents were left behind. Nor could
the paper be published, for it, too, was left behind (it was being updated
with new statistics). My father, believing I was too easily led by
others,
kept me isolated until Feb., 1962, when my aunt and grandfather, with
Senator Smathers and others, got me discretely enrolled - late -- at U of
Fla.
16. An official record of my paper on melanogenesis, as delivered to the
Indiana Academy of Science at Terre Haute, has now been located. Unable
to
recall the precise name of the organization without the program and
records,
which were left behind at SFC, I could have re****ted the event, but felt I
could not prove that event occurred. I could only state that I presented
the paper to the Indiana Biological Association, as several newspaper
articles and letters in my possession backed up that event.
17. A myth was fabricated that I never did any cancer research, ignoring
newspaper articles stating that I had been assigned to do research on what
makes cancer more deadly, after working June to September in RPMI Director
Dr. Moore's personal lab, then going on to continue research at SFC (and
elsewhere).
Personal statement: Those who can describe controversial matters without
prejudice, re****ting their findings as fairly and accurately as possible,
to
others, will be respected for their honesty and integrity. Others,
describing the same controversial matters, but utilizing sly sophistry,
mockery, or ad hominem attacks because of personal prejudice or beliefs,
should be respected by no one of true moral stature. I thank all of you
for
your help in vindicating Lee Harvey Oswald. Judyth Vary Baker
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