Research & Collaboration Agreement

The UW School of Medicine has a strict policy regarding the transfer of Human Biological Material to third parties. Human Biological Material means any material that comes from a person (e.g., blood, urine, cells, DNA, etc.). Human Biological Material is material that is removed from patients during the process of clinical care and is available after all clinical procedures have been completed. It may also include use of material originally collected for research purposes.

In order to transfer Human Biological Material samples collected at UW to a third party, there must first be a bona-fide collaboration in place between UW and the third party. The transfer requires both a Research and Collaboration Agreement (negotiated by UW TechTransfer) and Institutional Review Board (IRB) approval from the UW Human Subjects Review Committees. For IRB approval, the IRB application must include the collaborator as a named researcher. The IRB must also check to see if the original consent is consistent with the planned research/use of the sample. If this collaboration is with any entity other than a Not-for-profit research entity (e.g., a company), it must be approved by the School of Medicine's Office of Research and Graduate Education.

• Reasons Underlying the Human Biological Material Policy
• Research & Collaboration Agreement Process

For IRB approval, contact the appropriate individual at Human Subjects Division who is familiar with your particular IRB application. If you are still unsure, contact the Human Subjects Division

For a Research and Collaboration Agreement, contact the Agreements Group

To see a visual decision tree describing when an MTA is needed for the transfer of human biological samples to third parties, click here (PDF ).

Grant applications directed towards collection of Human Biological Material specimens or for creation of Human Biological Material banks

Human Biological Material collected under grant applications for specific projects in which a partial aim of the grant is to disseminate the collected specimens to other researchers or other sub-contractors require an MTA if the transfer of materials has not been addressed in the original grant application between the parties or sub-contractors. The MTA ensures that the specimens will be used only within the approved consent, that they will not be transferred to third parties, and that the receiving institution has appropriate IRB approval to work with the samples.

If you require an MTA for the transfer of Human Biological Material samples under a grant application, please contact the Agreements Group. Please be prepared to provide us with your IRB application number as well as the specifics of the proposed transfer. For example, please include:

• Name of party receiving materials
• Names of materials and quantities
• Contact name and e-mail address of recipient

Before the transfer is approved by UW TechTransfer, confirmation is needed from the Human Subjects Division.

If there is a high volume of requests, UW TechTransfer can set up a template for the transfer of the materials on this website to provide easier and faster access to recipients. If you have additional questions, please contact the Agreements Group for further assistance.

Prospective Human Biological Material

All requests to transfer prospective Human Biological Material are handled by the Office of Sponsored Programs and the Human Subjects Division.