To fill out a Material Transfer Agreement form, start with the correct template for your transfer, then complete five core sections: the parties, a precise description of the material, the patent and third-party rights status, the permitted use, and the term or termination date. Sign the acknowledgment line as the principal investigator, attach your regulatory approvals, and send it to your technology transfer office so an authorized institutional official can execute it. The form itself is short. The work is in choosing the right template and giving each field enough specificity that your tech transfer office does not send it back.
Pick the Right Template First
The fields you fill in depend on which template you use, so this is the first decision, not the last.
NIH Simple Letter Agreement
The NIH Simple Letter Agreement is a one-page, free-standing MTA for straightforward transfers of non-human, non-animal, and non-hazardous research materials between nonprofit institutions. NIH encourages its grantees to use the SLA as the default because custom negotiation delays delivery of research tools.1National Institutes of Health. Chapter 503A – NIH Simple Letter Agreement (SLA) For a basic reagent moving between two academic labs with no special IP concerns, this is the shortest form to fill out.
UBMTA Implementing Letter
The Uniform Biological Material Transfer Agreement works in two layers. Institutions sign a master agreement once, and then every individual transfer between signatory institutions happens through a short implementing letter that references the master terms.2National Institutes of Health. Uniform Biological Material Transfer Agreement – Request for Comments If both your institution and the provider’s are UBMTA signatories, you fill out only the implementing letter. No separate contract to negotiate.
AUTM Modified Templates
The UBMTA was built for biological materials between U.S. nonprofits. AUTM publishes modified, material-specific templates for chemical compounds, software, and transfers involving non-U.S. institutions, broadening references to U.S. law and adding optional clauses the original UBMTA was not designed to cover.3AUTM. AUTM MTA Templates NIH also hosts downloadable model agreements through its Office of Technology Transfer.4National Institutes of Health. Resources – Forms and Model Agreements Between the two libraries, you should rarely need to draft from scratch.
Complete the Core Fields
Whether you are using an SLA, a UBMTA implementing letter, or a modified template, the fields that matter are the same. The specificity you bring to each one is what determines whether your tech transfer office signs quickly or sends it back for revision.
Party Information
Enter the full legal name and registered address of both the providing and recipient institutions. These must match the names on file at your institution’s technology transfer office. A mismatch creates administrative delays. Below the institutional lines, list the provider scientist and the recipient scientist by name, title, and institutional address. These are the principal investigators responsible for the technical use of the material on each side.2National Institutes of Health. Uniform Biological Material Transfer Agreement – Request for Comments
Material Description
This is where most problems start. “Cell lines” or “plasmid” is too vague to function as a contract term. Use the specific strain name, catalog number, lot number, or unique identifier. For a plasmid, include the Addgene ID or the vector name and insert. For a cell line, specify the ATCC designation or the lab’s internal identifier along with passage number. The description sets the exact boundary of what the agreement covers. A vague description lets a recipient argue that related materials fall under the same terms, or lets a provider claim that something you received was never covered.
Patent Status and Third-Party Rights
The UBMTA implementing letter asks whether the provider has filed patent applications claiming the material or its uses. Answer honestly. A “yes” triggers additional obligations for the recipient, and a wrong answer can unravel the agreement later. A separate field asks whether the provider has granted rights to any third party that would affect the recipient’s use. If a company holds an exclusive license on the material, that restriction needs to appear here so the recipient knows the boundaries before starting work.2National Institutes of Health. Uniform Biological Material Transfer Agreement – Request for Comments
Permitted Use
Standard templates restrict the material to internal, non-commercial research. Some forms present this as a checkbox: research-only use, or commercial use. Commercial use typically requires a separate license agreement rather than an MTA, so if the box fits your plans, expect to be routed into a license negotiation. The form also usually prohibits use in human subjects, clinical trials, or diagnostic procedures without the provider’s written consent.5NCIMB. Material Transfer Agreement and Commercial Licensing
Term and Termination Date
Some implementing letters have a termination date field. If left blank, the agreement may run indefinitely or until one party terminates it in writing. If your project has a defined timeline, enter an end date. On termination or expiration, standard terms require the recipient to return any unused material or destroy it within 30 days and confirm the destruction in writing.6U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Basic Material Transfer Agreement (MTA)
Publication Review
Many MTAs require you to send manuscripts involving the material to the provider for review before submission. Typical pre-submission review is 30 to 60 days, with an additional 30 to 60 days available for the provider to file a patent application before publication. Combined, these periods generally should not exceed 90 days.7Yale Ventures. Material Transfer Agreement If you are on a tight publication timeline, read this clause carefully before signing and negotiate it down if needed.
Attach Your Approvals Before You Submit
Technology transfer offices routinely check for regulatory approvals before signing an MTA. Get these documents in hand before you submit the form, not after.
IRB and IACUC
If the material involves human-derived samples, the recipient’s Institutional Review Board must have approved the research protocol before the material arrives. For vertebrate animal or cephalopod work, the recipient’s Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee needs an approved protocol in place before the work begins.8FAS Division of Science. Research Approvals and Material Transfer Agreements Start these applications early. They often outlast the MTA review itself.
HIPAA De-Identification
When the material consists of biological specimens linked to identifiable patients, HIPAA’s Privacy Rule requires that protected health information be removed before transfer. The Safe Harbor method strips 18 categories of identifiers, including names, dates more specific than year, geographic data smaller than a state, Social Security numbers, medical record numbers, and biometric identifiers, with the covered entity confirming no actual knowledge that the remaining data could identify someone. The Expert Determination method lets a qualified statistician certify that re-identification risk is very small.9U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. Guidance Regarding Methods for De-identification of Protected Health Information Note on the MTA which method was used.
Export Controls
Shipping material or data to a foreign institution, or sharing it with a non-U.S. person inside the United States, can trigger federal export controls. Three frameworks apply: the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) for defense articles on the U.S. Munitions List, the Export Administration Regulations (EAR) for dual-use items on the Commerce Control List, and the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions programs.10Northwestern University. Overview of Federal Regulations – Export Controls and International Compliance A fundamental research exclusion may apply when work is conducted openly at an accredited U.S. institution without publication restrictions, but that exclusion disappears the moment the MTA imposes confidentiality clauses that limit what you can publish. International transfers should be screened by your institution’s export control office before you submit the MTA for signature.
Sign the Right Line, Then Route the Form
A PI signature on an MTA is an acknowledgment that you have read and understood the terms. It does not bind the institution. The agreement becomes legally binding only when an authorized institutional official signs, typically someone in the Office of Sponsored Programs or Technology Transfer Office.11Northwestern University. Material Transfer Agreements (MTA)12Addgene. Who Is Authorized to Sign the MTA
The sequence most offices follow:
- Complete every field in the template, attach your regulatory approvals, and sign the acknowledgment.
- Submit through your technology transfer office’s intake portal or form.
- Office staff review the terms for compliance with institutional policy, flag problematic clauses such as reach-through rights or unreasonable publication delays, and negotiate changes with the provider’s office if needed.
- Once both sides agree, the authorized officials at both institutions execute the agreement.
- Both parties receive a fully executed copy. Expect two to four weeks from submission, longer if custom terms are negotiated.
Do not start work with the material until the fully executed copy is in hand. Beginning research before execution leaves your institution without legal protection if something goes wrong, and if the underlying research uses government funds, it can affect future funding eligibility.13Creighton University. Material Transfer Agreements Frequently Asked Questions
When You Do Not Need to Fill One Out
Several common transfers do not require an MTA at all:
- Materials purchased from commercial vendors are governed by the vendor’s purchase terms.
- Public domain materials or those released under open licenses need no agreement.
- Transfers between labs within the same institution are handled by internal policy.
- Common lab supplies with no intellectual property attached do not trigger the process.
- Transfers covered by an existing sponsored research or collaboration agreement that already includes material terms are redundant to duplicate.
If a provider says no MTA is required, get that confirmation in writing so your tech transfer office has documentation.11Northwestern University. Material Transfer Agreements (MTA)
What Happens if You Fill It Out Wrong or Skip It
Shipping material subject to an existing restriction without a new MTA, or in breach of one you already signed, exposes both you and your institution to legal action. If your institution agreed in a separate MTA to assign ownership of inventions to a provider, and government funds supported the underlying research, the institution could lose future government funding eligibility, a consequence that reaches well beyond your project.13Creighton University. Material Transfer Agreements Frequently Asked Questions Improper packaging or labeling of biological specimens during shipment can draw substantial fines from the Department of Transportation regardless of whether the MTA itself is in order. And transferring material with no MTA at all means the sender loses every contractual protection the agreement would have provided, leaving the institution and the individual researcher exposed to liability with no shield.