Material Transfers

Whenever research materials are transferred into or out of Penn, a Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) must be completed and signed by an authorized Penn representative.

The Research Inventory System enables Penn faculty to initiate their MTA request. If you are a Penn PI and would like to initiate an MTA, please use RIS.  If you are an external party and would like to initiate a MTA request, please contact your Penn PI and copy ORS at ORSMTA@pobox.upenn.edu.

Penn Academic / Non-Profit Material Transfer Agreement 

This Material Transfer Agreement is used when Penn is sending material to an academic/non-profit institution external party. If the academic/non-profit institution external party is a member of AUTM, please use the Material Transfer Agreements provided below. 

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. The UBMTA implementing letter may be accessed here.

Penn Corporate / For-Profit Material Transfer Agreement

This Material Transfer Agreement when Penn is sending material to a corporate / for-profit institution external party. 

For more information on any of these agreements, please contact ORSMTA@pobox.upenn.edu.

1. If a Penn PI is leaving Penn and wishes to take material created in their laboratory to their new employer, they must submit a request for the transfer through RIS. 
2. If the Penn PI has already left Penn and an external party requests materials created in the Penn PI’s former laboratory, the department head of the former Penn PI’s laboratory will submit the MTA request through RIS to complete the transfer.
3. If a Penn PI received material from an external third party and the Penn PI wants to take the material with them to their new place of employment, the Penn PI or department head will submit the MTA request through RIS to complete the transfer.
4. If the Penn PI has already left Penn and wants the external third party’s materials from the Penn laboratory, the department head will submit the MTA request through RIS to complete the transfer.