Engaging with industry could turn your research into an innovative product or service that benefits local and global communities. UB helps the process by negotiating and executing all Material Transfer Agreements (MTA) and Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDA) in keeping with the university's research guidelines and its obligations to federal research sponsors.
The terms in a Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) define the permitted use of materials for non-commercial research only, for a specific research project, and not for use with humans. MTA terms protect the research interests of the providing scientist, as well as protecting the providing institution from any liability that might arise from the recipient's use of the materials.
You must have a fully executed MTA before you can send or receive materials to/or from a third party.
If you are the providing scientist, you can initiate the process by completing an outgoing MTA Request form.
If the recipient/sender is another nonprofit institution, you can expedite the process by using a Uniform Biological Material Transfer Agreement (UBMTA) implementing letter or a simple letter agreement for the transfer of research materials.
Researchers will need a Material Transfer Agreement before sending or receiving materials from a third party.
UB has partnered with Kerafast, a company that commercializes unique consumable laboratory reagents developed in UB labs such as: plasmids, antibodies, cell lines, toxins, peptides, viruses, and enzymes.
Kerafast has a blanket MTA with UB and can streamline the marketing and distribution of unique lab reagents. Kerafast will set up a web page for the product, as well as for the investigator. Additionally, Kerafast will advertise the product, send targeted e-mails, and deal with customer service interactions to distribute the reagents worldwide. In return, the PI receives a percentage of the profit as a royalty payment every quarter. The agreement is non-exclusive so that one can still share reagents freely with other investigators.
If you are interested in more details, please contact the UB Kerafast representative:
Confidential Disclosure Agreements (CDA) preserve intellectual property protections, allowing the exchange of secret or proprietary information in negotiating future sponsored research agreements, clinical trial agreements, research collaborations or license agreements.
When we receive your initial request, we will assign your CDA for review and, if necessary, begin negotiation. We may contact you with follow-up questions.
Confidential Disclosure Agreements (CDA) help protect your intellectual property and proprietary information.
If you are discussing collaborations or sponsored research with a company, please first contact Sponsored Project Services (SPS) to begin developing the scope of work, budget and contract.
Most federal agencies are required to allocate a portion of their funding to Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) grants. Both programs require a company to be the applicant. This provides an opportunity for researchers to either collaborate with an established company or consider starting a company.
Learn more about UB's Small Business Innovation Award and
SWIFT preferred licensing terms.