Material Transfer and Data Use Agreements (MTAs and DUAs)

Types of Agreements

DUA: Data Use Agreement (allows you to use data generated elsewhere)

MTA: Materials Transfer Agreement (allows for transfer of materials to/from Miami)

NDA: Non-Disclosure Agreement (allows for confidential discussions)

When are Agreements Needed?

To protect authorship, IP, and you as the researcher, contact ORI prior to sending OR receiving any materials, technology, or data:

• with U.S. person or with non-U.S. person 
• inside or outside the U.S.
• by electronic transmission (such as email)
• by hand-delivery 
• by shipment (via Miami or personally)
• to or from anyone in research group
• at time of move to Miami or at any other time
• in the form of digital, cloud-based, physical, or any type of material (biological, chemical, component, etc.)
• through purchase outside Miami Procurement (such as on your behalf by a friend/colleague)
  

Materials Requiring an MTA

Regardless of whether research is funded through Miami or through an external grant or contract, materials that require an MTA include, but are not limited to:

• cell lines
• plasmids 
• nucleotides 
• proteins
• transgenic animals (such as mice, rats, fish, etc.) 
• tissues (plant, animal)
• plant varieties 
• bacteria 
• pharmaceuticals 
• other chemicals
• geological samples 
  

When is a DUA not needed?

1. When data is publicly available in public domain.
2. When data is exchanged that is not subject to a legal or other restriction on its use.
3. When de-identified data is exchanged for research purposes under a subcontract or other form of agreement with the recipient.

When is a DUA needed?

1. Data is proprietary.
2. There is no plan to disseminate (to publish) the work.
3. Federal or state statutes limit dissemination.

Cautionary Notes on Contracts, MTAs, NDAs, and DUAs

Do not sign a contract, NDA, MTA or DUA on your own – send it to ORI and we will work with you.

Be wary when a contract includes:

• Obligation to publish in specific journals 
• Obligation to share information that may be confidential
• Obligation to withhold information from home institution or funding agency
• Obligation to hire or provide career advancement opportunities to other participants
• Obligation to provide pre-publication data
• Not following proper hiring and recruiting procedures
• Not going through normal university contracting process
• Only non-English language
• Rushed turn-around

Submitting an MTA or DUA Request

To submit a request, use Cayuse Innovate, our module for managing all intellectual property matters including invention disclosures, NDAs, MTAs, and Data Use Agreements.

1. Visit https://miami.innovatehosted.com/innovate/public/auth
2. Click on MU Users
3. Login using SSO
4. In the menu bar of the web page, click on “Forms”
5. Click on “Fill Out New Form” at the top right
6. Select “Data Use Agreement Form,” “MTA In Request Form,” “MTA Out Request Form”, or “NDA/CDA Request Form”
7. For the form, you will need to have contact information for the investigator at the other institution. You will also want to add yourself by typing your name into the search bar under item 7 and then selecting yourself from the list that pops up
8. Once you have entered information in all of the required fields, you can submit the form. The page has a helpful “Validate” button which can be used as a check before submitting.

After the form is validated and submitted an email alert will be generated to indicate the submitted request. The document will be uploaded once it has been fully executed.