A Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) is a contract that governs the transfer of tangible research materials between two organizations when the recipient intends to use it for his or her own research purposes. A material transfer agreement defines the rights of the provider and the recipient with respect to the materials and any derivatives.

MTAs may be used when transferring materials such as biological agents (e.g., cell lines and reagents), chemicals, data, and software between academic institutions or between academia and industry. The purpose of the MTA is to establish an up-front agreement on items such as:

• use of material
• publication rights
• intellectual property
• return/disposal of materials
• indemnification/liability

Below is a case study regarding the use of a material transfer agreement.

Spidey-sense

Peter Parker is a graduate assistant at Colorado State University (CSU). For his dissertation, Peter is investigating the effects of pesticides on the common wood spider. Because he knows that a colony of wood spiders is kept at the University of Colorado- Boulder (UC Boulder), Peter writes professor Otto Octavius at UC Boulder and asks him to ship a dozen wood spiders to CSU, which Dr. Octavius gladly does in the spirit of collaboration.

During the course of his research, Peter unknowingly creates a new species of spider after subjecting the colony to a particular mix of pesticides. One of these new spiders lands on Peter’s hand and bites him. At the genetic level, the venom injected by the spider bite begins to work strange magic on Peter, giving him superhuman strength and the uncanny ability to sense everything in his surroundings, which Peter dubs, “spidey sense.”

Peter patents and markets the venom, brands and trademarks a company he created called “Spidey-sense” and patents his new breed of spider. Due to this serendipitous discovery, and the aid of the CSU Research Foundation Technology Transfer Office, Peter is able to comfortably retire at age 23 prior to completing his dissertation.

When Dr. Octavius learns of Peter’s windfall, he becomes enraged and sues both Peter and CSU for ownership of the newly developed spider and venom and for a portion of the patent royalties.

In the above case study, how might UC Boulder and CSU have benefitted from having a material transfer agreement in place prior to shipping the spiders?

In the spirit of collaboration and in an effort to expedite processes, researchers might be tempted to share materials without putting a material transfer agreement in place, just like Dr. Otto Octavius. Had CSU and UC Boulder had a material transfer agreement in place, ownership of the intellectual property (the patents and trademarks) would have been agreed upon in advance, along with a number of other issues surrounding the transport, use, and return or disposal of the remaining materials.

At CSU, researchers receiving an MTA should contact the Office of Sponsored Programs for review and signature of the MTA. For researchers wanting to share materials with other organizations, the CSU policies and forms should be reviewed and completed. For questions regarding MTAs at CSU, contact the Office of Sponsored Programs.

To learn more about MTAs in general, visit the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) website.