The OpenMTA, the Open Material Transfer Agreement, is a standard agreement for sharing biological materials such as plasmids, strains and enzymes on open terms: it allows redistribution and commercial use, asks for attribution, and is signed once by an institution instead of being negotiated for every transfer. It was developed by the BioBricks Foundation and the OpenPlant Synthetic Biology Research Centre and launched in October 2018.
What the OpenMTA permits
Its designers set five goals: access, attribution, reuse, redistribution and nondiscrimination (Kahl and others, Nature Biotechnology, 2018). OpenPlant describes it as a simple, standardised legal tool that allows redistribution and commercial use of materials while respecting the rights of creators and promoting safe practices (OpenPlant). Under the master agreement the material is provided at no cost, or with an optional transmittal fee that only reimburses the provider, and attribution and notice on redistribution are the optional terms (the master agreement, archived). It carries no viral clause, so what a recipient builds with the material need not be shared on the same terms, and it includes no non-assertion covenant over patents.
How an institution signs and how a transfer works
The OpenMTA is a master agreement approved once at institutional level; each transfer after that is made with a short implementing letter, and using it is not mandatory even for a signatory institution, which can still use other agreements where they fit better. Its drafters started from the text of the Uniform Biological Material Transfer Agreement (UBMTA), which most technology transfer offices already know. Companies and community labs may sign as well as universities. The paper is clear about its limits: it is not suitable for every transfer, such as material in limited quantity or subject to strict biosecurity regulation (Kahl and others, 2018).
Who has signed it
The signatory list the Foundation published, as captured in April 2025, included the University of Cambridge, the University of Oxford, Stanford University, the John Innes Centre, Ginkgo Bioworks, GenScript USA, MycoWorks and Tropic Biosciences, with community labs and individual researchers beside them (signatories, archived). The Foundation's online signing system and that register stopped with its website in 2025, and we found no organisation that says it keeps them now, so an institution that wants to sign today should work from the agreement text and its own technology transfer office.
Where OpenMTA materials are shared today
Addgene offers the OpenMTA as one of its material transfer options where the depositor's technology transfer office approves it (Addgene), and plasmids deposited by the FreeGenes Project carry OpenMTA terms for both academic and industry users. Reclone shares its open enzyme reagents under the OpenMTA and publishes the agreement and implementing letter for anyone receiving them (Reclone). The Open Yeast Collection on openbiofoundry.org releases all its parts under it too. For parts covered by a promise not to assert patents rather than a transfer agreement, see our page on the BioBrick Public Agreement.
Questions people ask about openmta
What is the OpenMTA?
A standard material transfer agreement for sharing biological materials openly, developed by the BioBricks Foundation and OpenPlant and launched in October 2018. It allows redistribution and commercial use, with attribution.
Is the OpenMTA free to use?
Yes. Materials under it are provided at no cost, or for an optional transmittal fee that only reimburses the provider's costs, and the agreement itself costs nothing to adopt.
Can companies sign the OpenMTA?
Yes. Companies and community labs can sign as well as universities; the 2025 signatory list included Ginkgo Bioworks, GenScript USA and MycoWorks.
Does the OpenMTA make me share what I build?
No. It has no viral clause, so work derived from a transferred material does not have to be shared under the OpenMTA.
Sources
- OpenPlant: the OpenMTA (retrieved 2026-10-21)
- Kahl and others, Opening options for material transfer, Nature Biotechnology, 2018 (retrieved 2026-10-21)
- John Innes Centre: the OpenMTA launch, October 2018 (retrieved 2026-10-21)
- OpenMTA master agreement (archived February 2025) (retrieved 2026-10-21)
- OpenMTA institution FAQ (archived January 2025) (retrieved 2026-10-21)
- OpenMTA signatories (archived April 2025) (retrieved 2026-10-21)
- Addgene: what is the OpenMTA? (retrieved 2026-10-21)
- Reclone: the OpenMTA (retrieved 2026-10-21)