Industrial Contracts Office
3000 El Camino Real

Building 5, Suite 300
Palo Alto, CA 94306
ico@stanford.edu

FOR RESEARCHERS – MTA Information

Material Transfer Agreements (MTAs) are contracts governing the transfer of tangible research property for pre-clinical research use. Please see MTA FAQs.

You can start your MTA with an online MTA Routing Form

MTAs may be used in the following instances:

MTA Policy for transfers between non-profits


Incoming MTAs

Incoming MTAs govern the transfer of material from another organization to Stanford.  All incoming MTAs must be reviewed and signed by ICO. 

What do I do if I have an Incoming MTA?
Complete the online MTA Routing Form online or have the PI complete and sign the Incoming MTA Routing Form and email it to our office. For more information on how to fill out the Incoming MTA Routing Form, please view our MTA FAQ. Some organizations will send an MTA directly to you – if so, please forward it to us.  After we have reviewed the Routing Form and the MTA, we will contact you. If the material provider is a non-profit, we will ask to use a standard MTA, such as the SLA or UBMTA. Back to top

 

Outgoing MTAs

Outgoing MTAs govern the transfer of materials from Stanford to researchers outside of Stanford. Stanford encourages researchers to share materials with other research colleagues without an MTA when possible. But MTAs are required for transfers of human tissues and CIRM-funded materials.  Certain types of materials require approval by research compliance panels under University policy before they may be sent out. For more information, see Human Subjects Panels (IRB), Laboratory Animals (A-PLAC), Biosafety (EH&S) and Radiological Hazards (EH&S). If you are being asked for material that you feel may have commercial value and could be licensable to industry, please contact OTL.

What do I do if I want an Outgoing MTA?
You can use one of the standard agreements below.  If you need assistance, please contact the appropriate ICO staff.

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Human Tissue Transfers

You are required to use an agreement when you transfer human tissues, human blood samples or other human research specimens.  These transfers must be approved by the Stanford Human Subjects Panels (IRB). Please also see Guidelines for Human Tissue Transfer agreements.

What do I do if I want to transfer human tissue?
Complete and have the PI sign the Human Tissue Agreement Intake Form and email or fax it to our office.  You can also send the recipient one of our standard agreements below.  ICO must sign the agreement on behalf of the University.

Standard Human Tissue Transfer Agreements

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CIRM-funded Materials

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) requires an MTA to transfer research materials created using CIRM funds, and these transfers are reported to CIRM.

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Human Stem Cells and Human Embryos

Research involving human adult, fetal, or embryonic stem cells, human embryos or oocytes requires compliance with special state and federal regulations.  All human stem cell research projects must be reviewed and approved by Stanford’s Stem Cell Research Oversight Committee (SCRO).

What do I do if I want to receive human stem cells, embryos or oocytes?
Complete the online MTA Routing Form online or have the PI complete and sign the Incoming MTA Routing Form and email it to our office.  Some organizations will send an MTA directly to you – if so, please forward it to us.  After we have reviewed the Routing Form and the MTA, we will contact you.

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What do I do if I want to receive WiCell lines from WiCell?

   Complete and have the PI sign the following forms:

After ICO has received your forms and confirmed with SCRO that your protocol using the line has been approved, we will sign the two SLA copies and send them back to you.   You will need to send the SLA, Certification and payment to WiCell.  Once you have received a fully executed copy of the SLA back, please send a copy to ICO for our records.

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What if I want to receive WiCell lines from another Stanford researcher?

  Complete and have the PI sign the following forms:

After ICO has received your forms and confirmed with SCRO that your protocol using the line has been approved, we will sign the SLA and send it back to WiCell, along with the Certification form. Once ICO receives the fully executed SLA back from WiCell, we will notify the Stanford Principal Investigator that you may receive the line.

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Master MTAs

Master MTAs govern the ongoing transfer of material between Stanford and other organizations. The Master MTA terms and conditions remain the same for each material transferred.  The specifics of each transfer are documented in an Exhibit to the Master. Stanford has Master MTAs in place with Biogen, StemCells, Inc., Rigel Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Genentech, and Kosan Biosciences.

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