Save Time and Resources by Depositing with Addgene

Addgene is a nonprofit plasmid repository whose mission is to help scientists share their research materials with colleagues around the world and thereby accelerate science. One aspect of working toward this mission is working with Technology Transfer offices like yours to help scientists establish the appropriate agreements so that this sharing is possible. To initiate the sharing (or deposit) process, Addgene requires a One-Time Deposit Agreement for each material deposit. The “One-Time” indicates that the agreement needs to be signed only once but can result in many future transfers to labs who request materials from researchers at your institution.

Benefits of Depositing Materials With Addgene

There are many benefits to depositing with Addgene, for both your office as well as your researchers. Ways we can help your office include:

1. We use standard MTA terms (those of the UBMTA), which:
   1. Reduce paperwork. A One-Time deposit agreement with Addgene can translate into many transfers because the terms of the UBMTA are the same for every transfer. With terms shared between transfers, your office can sign and execute fewer agreements while increasing the total number of transfers.
   2. Minimize negotiation time. Addgene distributes all materials under the terms of the UBMTA, which are non-negotiable. We find that the terms of the UBMTA, an internationally accepted document, are easy to agree to for both the depositing and requesting parties; the UBMTA addresses ownership and intellectual property rights, without including any reach through rights.
   3. Give you more time to pursue more pressing matters
2. We provide easy access to all records of transferred materials online
   1. Addgene offers Technology Transfer Accounts for the office(s) that handle Addgene agreements. At any time, you can access any agreements between your organization and the requesting organization. Contact us at to get your account up and running.

Researchers who deposit with Addgene benefit from the following:

1. Visibility within a global community of researchers consisting of:
   1. Over 3,000 depositing labs
   2. from 600 depositing institutions
   3. in 40 countries
2. Labs save time and money
   1. Labs no longer need to spend time and resources (such as hiring a lab tech) fulfilling material requests leaving them to focus on their research. We handle all order processing online through our website, material processing in our lab, and shipments through our facility in Cambridge, MA. Addgene continues to streamline all of these processes to help orders reach their destinations as efficiently as possible.
3. A free and easy deposit process
   1. Addgene has an experienced and dedicated team of Scientists that are ready to assist your researchers throughout the deposit process. They can help determine which materials your researchers should deposit, facilitate data entry, and provide your researchers with pre-paid shipping supplies to send their materials to Addgene.
4. Labs are rewarded with free plasmids for depositing. The more their materials are requested, the more they save!
   1. This is our way of thanking your scientists for depositing.
5. All plasmids and data are securely archived for the future.
   1. We store multiple copies of all plasmids in multiple locations. We store 2 copies of the materials at our facility in Cambridge, MA and another copy offsite. Not only does this help with our quality control and order fulfillment, but it also creates peace of mind for your researchers who, for example, may need to retrieve a copy of their own material some day in the future.
   2. We also store all of the data (sequencing, publication etc.) associated with each material. We have recently begun performing and providing full sequencing information for all newly deposited materials. This provides better information for requesting labs so that they are able to easily locate and choose the most appropriate material for their research. We also can associate any publication with the material itself. Conversely, if a researcher deposits materials with Addgene prior to publishing a paper, the researcher can include the Addgene Item ID number directly in their paper. When the paper is published, researchers who are interested in using that material can request it immediately from Addgene, instead of requesting it from the publishing lab which may not be prepared to handle the request.

Share Addgene Information with Your Researchers

We hope that the above benefits will accelerate research and resource sharing at your institution. If you’d like to talk to your researchers about depositing and becoming members of the Addgene community, we’ve provided materials below to help you start the conversation.

Flyers

Provide these PDF flyers to your investigators if they are interested in learning more about how Addgene works and how to deposit materials.

• General Information about Addgene 6.2 MB
• Addgene Deposit Process 3.4 MB

Marketing Materials

Modify the italicized template below to suit your institution's needs. You can include it in any emails, newsletters or other communications to your researchers. You may also want to log into your Tech Transfer Account to find and add information and stats specific to your institution. If you need help locating any of this information, please contact us at .

Addgene is a nonprofit plasmid repository that facilitates research by authenticating, archiving, and distributing plasmids and their associated data. Addgene has worked with over 3,000 laboratories from around the world to assemble a collection of over 50,000 plasmids. The plasmid collection represents a broad range of disciplines and can be used for a variety of functions such as genome engineering, gene knockdown, viral gene delivery, as well as many applications for use in a wide array of cells and organisms.

Addgene is continuing to expand its collection and invites you to join the community. Do you receive requests for plasmids you've made in your lab? You can deposit them to Addgene at no cost. You will have more time for your research, Addgene will handle the samples and MTA compliance, and will provide you with a full record of where your plasmids have been shipped.

To learn more, visit www.addgene.org or contact us at or +1 (617) 225-9000.

Contact Addgene!

We’re here to help. We have a team of scientists at Addgene that would be happy to speak with your researchers about the deposit process, data submission details, which materials to deposit and any other questions or concerns. Each new deposit is assigned to one of our scientists who will walk your researchers through the entire process.

Making plasmid distributions easier for your researchers will, in turn, help your office by freeing up your time. We look forward to working with you!