Material Transfer Agreement
The recipient, the recipient's institution, and the NICHD Brain and Tissue Bank are required to sign a Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) before any tissues are transferred.
The MTA should be submitted in the name of the senior investigator. Typically, the senior investigator oversees all research conducted in the research lab (which may include that of the tissue recipient) and is recognized and authorized by the university or institution as a faculty member who conducts scientific research.
The MTA specifies that the recipient has obtained approval from the recipient's Institutional Review Board, utilizes proper precautions in handling the tissue, and agrees to the NIH required reimbursement for tissues.
In addition, the recipient of tissue acknowledges the intent to utilize the tissue received for research to publish meaningful results in the public domain such as in a scientific journal, to present the results at a scientific meeting, or to make a presentation open to the public.