Transferring Materials Into and Out Of UW
What’s a Material Transfer Agreement (MTA)?
Material Transfer Agreements (MTAs) are contracts that protect your IP when you either provide or receive research materials—such as cell lines, cultures, bacteria, nucleotides, proteins, transgenic animals, pharmaceuticals, and chemicals—to and from research institutions or corporate entities. Each exchange of research material requires an MTA. For repeated exchanges of the same research material, standardized MTAs can help streamline the process. C4C’s Agreements Group can help you efficiently transfer research materials.
Why are MTAs important?
MTAs are important because they protect your IP rights, limit liability, and fairly credit the developer of the materials.
Who should I contact for assistance with MTAs?
UW researchers should contact the UW C4C Agreements Group: 206-543-3970, mta-group@uw.edu.
If the MTA is embedded in a Sponsored Research Agreement, is linked to a clinical trial, or is for clinical use or clinical studies in humans, then the Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP) is responsible for the MTA. The UW Center for Commercialization and OSP are the only units of the UW authorized to review and sign MTAs.