MATERIAL TRANSFER at Penn Whenever research materials are transferred into or out of Penn, a Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) must be completed and signed by an authorized Office of Research Services (ORS) Penn representative. In response to your feedback, the ORS has streamlined the process by which Penn faculty may transfer materials to or from researchers at external organizations. This website enables the Penn faculty to initiate their MTA request.  Please utilize the below forms and agreements, particular to your MTA request, in order to begin this process. In order to simplify the process of transferring material among academic medical centers and other non-profit institutions, The University of Pennsylvania is signatory to important conventions that provide for transfer of material among such institutions under pre-specified terms and conditions.  This eliminates the need for negotiation of agreement terms and enables transfer to occur after the appropriate form agreement has been signed by a University representative.  The Uniform Biological Material Transfer Agreement (“UBMTA”) is one such convention.  The University is also signatory to an agreement among the Technology Transfer offices of leading academic medical centers to expedite the exchange of materials among academic medical centers and other non-profit institutions.  See attached link for additional details.  This agreement, entered into under the leadership of Dr. Michael Cleare of Penn’s Center for Technology Transfer, adopts our current practice of using the UMBTA and Simple Letter Agreement, recommended by NIH, whenever possible. Exceptions are expected to be rare and based on individual faculty requests to ORS.  In all cases, the agreement forms need to be processed by ORS. MTA FAQs MTA Updates

Office of Research Services P221 Franklin Building 3451 Walnut Street Philadelphia, PA 19104 Phone: (215) 573-4505 Fax: (215) 898-9707 orsmta@exchange.upenn.edu

Academic / Non-Profit

Corporate / For-Profit

If you are a Penn researcher and wish to transfer material to or from a representative at an academic / non-profit institution, please utilize this section.  Or if you are an academic / non-profit institution external party and wish to transfer material to or from a Penn researcher, please utilize this section.  Please read the definition at the link below to help identify if your institution falls within this category. Definition

If you are a Penn researcher and wish transfer material to or from a representative at a corporate / for-profit institution, please utilize this section.  Or if you are a corporate / for-profit institution external party and wish to transfer material to or from a Penn researcher, please utilize this section. Please read the definition at the link below to help identify if your institution falls within this category. Definition

Receiving	Sending	Receiving	Sending
If the academic / non-profit institution external party will send their Material Transfer Agreement to the Penn researcher.  For more information	If the Penn researcher will send their materials to an academic / non-profit institution external party.  There are three distinct Material Transfer Agreements available for the Penn researcher to utilize below in this section.	If the corporate / for-profit institution external party will send their Material Transfer Agreement to the Penn researcher. For more information	If the Penn researcher will send their materials to a corporate / for-profit institution external party.
Material Transfer Submission Form Material Transfer Submission Form (PDF version) This form is required of all Penn researchers when receiving materials from an academic / non-profit institution external party.  Please be as detailed as possible when filling out the form, as any obscure information will only delay the transfer of your material.  Please submit the completed Material Transfer Submission Form to the Office of Research Services (ORS).	Material Transfer Submission Form Material Transfer Submission Form (PDF version) This form is required of all Penn researchers when sending materials to an academic / non-profit institution external party.  Please be as detailed as possible when filling out the form, as any obscure information will only delay the transfer of your material.  Please submit the completed Material Transfer Submission Form to the Office of Research Services (ORS).	Material Transfer Submission Form Material Transfer Submission Form (PDF version) This form is required of all Penn researchers when receiving materials from a corporate / for-profit institution external party.  Please be as detailed as possible when filling out the form, as any obscure information will only delay the transfer of your material.  Please submit the completed Material Transfer Submission Form to the Office of Research Services (ORS).	Material Transfer Submission Form Material Transfer Submission Form (PDF version) This form is required of all Penn researchers when sending materials to a corporate / for-profit institution external party.  Please be as detailed as possible when filling out the form, as any obscure information will only delay the transfer of your material.  Please submit the completed Material Transfer Submission Form to the Office of Research Services (ORS).
Human Tissue (or Human Material Derived) Screening Tool Form If the Penn researcher has indicated on the Material Transfer Submission Form that the material to be received is human tissue or human derived materials, this form is required.  For more information __________________________	Human Tissue (or Human Material Derived) Screening Tool Form If the Penn researcher has indicated on the Material Transfer Submission Form that the material to be sent is human tissue or human derived materials, this form is required. For more information ___________________________	Human Tissue (or Human Material Derived) Screening Tool Form If the Penn researcher has indicated on the Material Transfer Submission Form that the material to be received is human tissue or human derived materials, this form is required.  For more information __________________________	Human Tissue (or Human Material Derived) Screening Tool Form If the Penn researcher has indicated on the Material Transfer Submission Form that the material to be sent is human tissue or human derived materials, this form is required. For more information __________________________
Academic / Non-Profit External Party Material Transfer Agreement This Material Transfer Agreement is provided by the academic / non-profit institution external party. However, if the academic / non-profit institution external party does not possess its own Material Transfer Agreement, ORS can provide an Academic / Non-Profit (Receiving) Material Transfer Agreement. For more information	Penn Academic / Non-Profit Material Transfer Agreement If the academic / non-profit institution external party is not a member of the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM), the Penn researcher will use the Penn Material Transfer Agreement.  Click here to access a list of AUTM members.  For more information If the academic / non-profit institution external party is a member of AUTM, please use the Material Transfer Agreements provided below.	Corporate / For-Profit External Party Material Transfer Agreement This Material Transfer Agreement is provided by the corporate / for-profit institution external party. However, if the corporate / for-profit institution external party does not possess its own Material Transfer Agreement, ORS can provide a Corporate / For-Profit (Receiving) Material Transfer Agreement. This Material Transfer Agreement can be found here. For more information	Penn Corporate / For-Profit Material Transfer Agreement The Penn researcher will use this Material Transfer Agreement when sending material to a corporate / for-profit institution external party.  For more information
	Penn Academic / Non-Profit (AUTM) Material Transfer Agreement This Agreement is available for the Penn researcher to use if the academic / non-profit external party is a member of the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM).  Click here to access a list of AUTM members.  For more information
	Uniform Biological Material Transfer Agreement (UBMTA) If the academic / non-profit external party is a member of the Association of University Technology Managers (AUTM) and the materials are of a biological nature, another option is to use the UBMTA.  Click here to access a list of AUTM members.  For more information

Please forward comments, questions or suggestions regarding this web site to orsweb@upenn.edu.