Material deposit agreements established with over 30 institutions will accelerate biological material distribution to global research community

August 27, 2013—ATCC, the premier global biological materials resource and standards organization, announces material deposit agreements with over 30 leading public and private institutions. These institutions will have the option to participate in the new Biomaterial Contributor Network (BCN), and make important research materials available to the research community. ATCC will coordinate with Technology Transfer Offices at each institution to create a simple, streamlined process for adding new microbial strains and cell lines to the ATCC collection. Many of the participants will have an opportunity to receive a share of the revenue from the sale and licensing of materials developed at their institutions. Over 225 unique biological materials are deposited under these agreements to date, with most available to both contributors and others as determined jointly by ATCC and the institution.

“Since 1925, ATCC has set the standard for providing the largest and most diverse collection of authenticated biological materials to the scientific community. The Network enables Contributors to create a lasting impact on science around the globe,” said Dr. Raymond Cypess, CEO of ATCC. “These agreements reinforce ATCC’s Mission to distribute scientifically valuable, authenticated materials, while recognizing the shared financial benefit with participating institutions,” said Matt Klusas, Senior Director of Corporate Development at ATCC.

Government agencies with agreements include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the US Department of Agriculture - Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS). Academic institutions with agreements include but are not limited to Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, Baylor College of Medicine, Colorado State University, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, George Mason University, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, King’s College London, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Michigan State University, National University of Singapore, Northwestern University, The Pennsylvania State University, Stanford University, University of British Columbia, several campuses of the University of California (Berkeley, Irvine, Riverside and San Francisco), University of Florida, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Maryland, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the University of Toronto, University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Wake Forest University.

For more information about the ATCC Biomaterial Contributor Network, please visit www.atcc.org/bcn.