Please Deposit or Donate Your Valuable Bioresources to RIKEN BRC
Please deposit or donate your valuable bioresources to RIKEN BRC
Bioresources in RIKEN BRC totally depend on deposition/donation from the research community. Please deposit or donate bioresources that have been developed in your research to us. Your generous act is most appreciated and admired not only by us but also by whole scientific community. In return, you do not have to maintain your bioresources or distribute them to fellow scientists yourself. Your papers describing the bioresources are publicized by us and consequently you will receive many citations and credits from users. RIKEN BRC keeps your bioresources safely and distributes them to requesting scientists around the world.
We also ask you to deposit bioresources that have been modified or developed using bioresources originally obtained from us. Examples are transgenic mouse strains or cell lines which are produced by transfection with various DNA clones from RIKEN BRC, and mouse offspring of cross between RIKEN BRC strains. Most of modified bioresources are extremely advanced and useful, thus are highly valued by the research community.
・Deposition: Deposition means transfer of a bioresource and the limited rights associated with the bioresource such as maintenance, preservation, multiplication, quality control/improvement and distribution of the bioresources, to RIKEN BRC.
・Donation: Donation means transfer of bioresources together with the associated intellectual property and rights to the RIKEN BRC. By “donation”, the procedure for distribution will be greatly simplified. We recommend “donation” in the cases that you retire from university or research institution or you expect that it will become difficult to answer various questions and requests from users. The “donated” bioresources will be distributed to users by RIKEN BRC responsibly. The Donor will not assert any intellectual property or any other rights regarding the results obtained by the user using the resources. However, the Donor can still use the donated bioresources freely even after the donation. In addition, a Donor can set forth Terms & Conditions other than those related to intellectual property rights, for example, “In Publishing the research results to be obtained by use of the BIOLOGICAL RESOURCE, an acknowledgment to the DEPOSITOR is requested” and “In publishing the research results obtained by use of the BIOLOGICAL RESOURCE, a citation of the following literature(s) designated by the DEPOSITOR is requested”. Please consider the donation along with the deposition.
Credit Service System: As a token of our gratitude to your deposition and donation of your valuable bioresources, RIKEN BRC will provide you with the same type and number of bioresources (one mouse strain for one mouse strain) free of charge whenever you need. Please use this opportunity. When using credits, please contact a Division in charge.
Material Transfer Agreements (MTA) for Deposition, Donation or Distribution
Bioresources are great assets for developer scientists and institutions. RIKEN BRC has been using three types of MTA in order to protect their assets as well as provide opportunities to fellow researchers to use properly bioresources deposited or donated to RIKEN BRC. Depositors and Donors can set Terms & Conditions for distribution in the respective MTA. These Terms & Conditions will be set forth in the MTA for Distribution and will be complied by prospective users. Most importantly, however, in order to promote researches in life science, we ask you to set forth reasonable Terms & Conditions that are as simple and generous as possible and are easy for users to agree and comply.
Terms & Conditions 1 “In publishing the research results to be obtained by use of the BIOLOGICAL RESOURCE, an acknowledgment to the DEPOSITOR/Donor is required” and Terms & Conditions 2 “In publishing the research results obtained by use of the BIOLOGICAL RESOURCE, a citation of the following literature(s) designated by the DEPOSITOR/Donor is requested”, are justifiable and reasonable excise of rights held by Developer and are only proper to conform with the recommended practice of the scientific community. These Terms & Conditions can be set for both deposition and donation. Other than these Terms & Conditions, we ask depositors and donors generous Terms & Conditions for distribution of bioresources, to not-for -profit academic research by not-for-profit institution.
In order to practice the intellectual property rights associated with bioresources and to gain profit for developer scientists and institutions, it is possible to set forth the specific Terms & Conditions 3 ~ 5 for patent applications and profit sharing to for-profit research and development.
It is possible to set forth Terms & Conditions 6 “Prior to requesting the BIOLOGICAL RESOURCE, the RECIPIENT must obtain approval from the DEPOSITOR using the Approval Form.” It is understandable that bioresources are the results of the long-time efforts of a developer and that he/she wants to know how the bioresources that he/she developed are being used. However, many years after the deposit, these Terms & Conditions make it particularly difficult for users to contact the depositor due to relocation or retirement of the depositor. In addition, the more the requests for the depositor’s approval are the greater the burden of procedures for approval for the depositor. These possible obstacles should be considered before setting forth such Terms & Conditions. We would like to ask the depositor to provide the precise contact information that users can approach and to respond promptly to requests from users.
For Terms & Conditions of “Joint research and co-authorship” for bioresources which were developed long before and the research priority and intellectual property rights of a developer have been well established, it is recommendable not to use these Terms & Conditions. On the contrary, by not setting forth these Terms & Conditions make a depositor to receive respect and admiration as a generous scientists from the scientific community. The Terms & Conditions of “Censorship before publication of the paper” would be over requesting for users and consequently they would hesitate to request bioresources. Therefore, RIKEN BRC would like to ask depositors not to set forth these particular Terms & Conditions.
Both the Depositor/Donor and BRC may request to review and revise Terms & Conditions after a certain period (5 or 10 years). With the agreement between both parties, Terms & Conditions can be revised.
Concluding MTA: If you are not sure about the contents, please consult with the Division in charge. Once the content is agreed, an MTA can be finalized. The MTA should be signed or sealed. The signature of the “Head of institution” is assumed to be the dean or head of a university or graduate school, or the director of a research institute. In addition, for organizations where a manager in charge of intellectual property rights transfer has already been appointed, the manager can sign or seal.
For-profit Use of Bioresource: The Definition of For-profit Use of Bioresources
・Use in all research and development (R&D) by a for-profit organization
・Use in collaborative R&D between a not-for-profit organization and a for-profit organization
・Use by a not-for-profit organization for R&D commissioned from a for-profit organization
・Use in for-profit R&D by a not-for-profit organization
Bioresources can be deposited/donated to RIKEN BRC
RIKEN BRC has been accepting deposition and donation for the following types of bioresources.
- Experimental Animal Division (mouse)
- Experimental Plant Division (plant)
- Cell Engineering Division (cell line)
- Gene Engineering Division (DNA materials)
- Microbe Division (JCM accepts bacteria, archaea, yeasts and filamentous fungi that can be handled in Biosafety Level 1 or 2 facilities [Risk Group 1 or 2].)
Links to the guide pages for deposition/donation and mail addresses
Detailed procedures of deposition/donation are explained in linked pages.