Addgene secures permission from contributing laboratories and their host institutions' Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs) to receive, store and distribute plasmids. Addgene operates purely as a repository and does not own any plasmids that they distribute.
Individuals requesting materials through Addgene will be sent a material transfer agreement (MTA) listing the providing institution, the providing scientist and the requesting scientist’s information. Depending on the recipient organization’s settings within our system, Addgene will send the MTA to either the requesting scientist’s TTO or directly to the scientist. Then, the MTA must be signed by an authorized signatory.