The Biological Materials portfolio consists of non-patented biological materials such as:
- transgenic mice
- antibodies
- cell lines
- vectors
In the majority of cases we will not file for patent protection of such materials as they can be effectively commercialized in the absence of patent protection.
Transferring Biological Materials
Biological Materials that will be transferred to non-profits or universities would go through our Agreements Group under the standard outgoing Material Transfer Agreement (MTA).
To transfer these tools to for-profit institutions such as a biotech or pharmaceutical company, we need to have appropriate agreements in place. We may be able to make the Biological Material available for a fee as a research reagent (sold to other end users) or for internal research use only. However, there may be third-party rights involved in the material — for example:
- third-party materials may have been used to generate this research tool
- the tool was jointly made with another institution, or
- there may be patent protection around a component of the tool (e.g. GFP for a reporter mouse).
Contact our innovation managers to assess a tool’s readiness for distribution.
For the transfer of any Biological Material, the UW Researcher will be responsible for preparing and shipping the material.