What is an MTA?
A material transfer agreement (MTA) facilitates the physical transfer of research materials between two parties while preserving the intellectual property rights of both the recipient and provider. Additionally, MTAs legally protect the provider by explicitly stating that the provider offers no warranties and assumes no liability relating to the research material. MTAs are often used in the transfer of cell lines, plasmids, and reagents between research institutions, industry, and community labs.
How do MTAs facilitate research?
MTAs allow researchers to share their physical research materials with others while preserving their intellectual property rights thus facilitating a culture which encourages researchers to be more open to sharing materials. By protecting providers, MTAs allow research to be more accessible, especially to smaller labs or companies which may not have the resources to synthesize materials de novo.
What are the different types of MTAs?
UBMTA
A few different types of MTAs are currently in use: the Uniform Biological Material Transfer Agreement (UBMTA) is one of the more popular MTAs and is used by Addgene and our institution UC Davis. The UBMTA places certain restrictions on the recipient of the material including the following:
- The recipient may not distribute the material to any other party. Additionally, the recipient may not distribute any progeny, unmodified derivatives, or modifications without the consent of the provider.
- The recipient may only use the material for academic research and teaching. Additionally, any modifications made by the recipient may not be used for commercial purposes.
Open MTA
An alternative to the UBMTA, the OpenMTA was developed by the BioBricks Foundation. Its signatories include Ginko Bioworks, University of Cambridge, and multiple community labs. The OpenMTA removed most of the restrictions associated with the UBMTA for the purpose of streamlining the transfer of important research tools. The OpenMTA places no restrictions on the following:
- The recipient may distribute the material without the consent of the provider. Furthermore, the recipient may freely distribute any progeny, unmodified derivatives, and modifications.
- The recipient may use the material for commercial purposes.
How can MTAs be used to increase the accessibility of parts?
Since we are exploring how to make mammalian research more accessible, we were intrigued by the OpenMTA and wondered if encouraging the use of this type of MTA could make more mammalian parts accessible to more researchers. If more researchers used the OpenMTA to distribute materials, then it could become easier for smaller labs, community labs, and iGEM teams to receive essential materials for mammalian work.
We met with Dr. Raj Guruajan, Dr. Maris Apse, and Dr. Bryon Roberts from UC Davis’ intellectual property office to talk about the functionality of the OpenMTA. While they appreciated the sentiment behind the OpenMTA, they pointed out to us a few important reasons why using the UBMTA format can be more appropriate for a given scenario. One of the most important reasons to use a more stricter MTA would be so that the provider can control future applications of the material. This reason reminded us of our conversation with Dr. Mark Yarbough about the responsibility of researchers to limit future harmful uses of their work. We then wondered if MTAs could become a tool that not only facilitates the spread of research materials but also facilitate the consideration of ethics.
BioBricks Standard Registry of Parts
After researching the different types of MTAs, we were curious as to what kind of MTA the BioBricks foundation uses to distribute the parts submitted to the Standard Registry of Parts. The Registry does not use any MTAs; however, all users must sign the BioBrick User agreement before they are able to withdraw material from the registry. Additionally, those who wish to submit a part to the registry sign the contributor agreement. The combination of these two agreements basically encompass the role of an MTA with similar legal protections for the provider on warranties and liability. Additionally, the provider still retains intellectual property rights; however, the provider promises not to assert their rights against users that might use the material. The BioBrick user agreement places no restrictions on use (except no harmful uses) or distribution for the recipient.
