Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP)

Collaboration Agreements are executed between institutions irrespective of whether sponsored funding is anticipated.  These agreements set out expectations, terms, and requirements to protect the interests of the investigators and the participating organizations. Such agreements may also involve use of university property and space, faculty time, students, protocols for human and animal subjects that must be approved by university officials and compliance committees.  

Contact the Office of Sponsored Programs for Collaboration Agreements. 

A Confidentiality Agreement (also known as a Non-disclosure agreement) is simply a contract between two or more parties where the subject of the agreement is a promise that information conveyed will be maintained in secrecy. 

Contact the Office of Sponsored Programs for Confidentiality/Non-disclosure Agreements. 

A Consultant Agreement or a Professional Services Agreement is a legal agreement between a consultant and a client, by means of which the client buys the services of the consultant.  A consultant will typically be appointed by a client to provide professional advise and support, and may also be contracted to produce documents, software or other deliverables. 

The TTUHSC Contracting Office manages Consulting Agreements, contact them at contracting@ttuhsc.edu.

A Cooperative Agreement is distinguished from a grant in that it provides for substantial involvement between the Federal awarding agency or pass-through entity and the non-federal entity in carrying out the activity contemplated by the Federal award.

Contact the Office of Sponsored Programs for Cooperative Agreements. 

A Data Use or Data Sharing Agreement is an agreement that is required under the Privacy Rule and must be entered into before there is any use or disclosure of a limited data set (defined below) to an outside institution or party. 

A limited data set is a data set that is stripped of certain direct identifiers specified in the Privacy Rule. A limited data set may be disclosed to an outside party without a patient authorization only if the purpose of the disclosure is for research, public health, or health care operations purposes and the person or entity receiving the information signs a data use agreements with the covered entity or its business associate.

Limited data sets may include only the following identifiers:

• Dates, such as admission, discharge, service, and date of birth
• City, state, and zip code (not street address)
• Age
• Any other unique code or identifier that is not listed as a direct identifier.

The TTUHSC Contracting Office manages Data Use/Sharing Agreements, contact them at contracting@ttuhsc.edu.

A research study, funded by the federal government, in which one of more human subjects are prospectively assigned to one or more interventions (which may include placebo or other control) to evaluate the effects of those interventions on health-related biomedical or behavioral outcomes.

Contact the Office of Sponsored Programs for Federally Sponsored Clinical Research. 

A Gift or Donation is a charitable contribution of any kind of property real or personal, including pledges, which are given for restricted or unrestricted purposes by donors from the private sector (e.g., individuals, foundations and corporations). A gift is bestowed by the donor voluntarily and without expectation of any real tangible return. 

Contact Institutional Advancement for gifts or donations at givinginfo@ttuhsc.edu.

Grants are non-repayable funds or products disbursed or gifted by one party, often a government department, corporation, foundation or trust, to a recipient, often (but not always) a nonprofit entity, educational institution or business. 

Contact the Office of Sponsored Programs for all grants. 

Industry-sponsored research is paid for by an industry organization that has contracted with a faculty member to conduct a clinical trial that involves an intervention with, or observation of, a disease or biomedical condition, or a registry/repository related to a disease or biomedical condition. These protocols are authored by a non-TTUHSC employee. 

Contact the Office of Sponsored Programs for all Industry Sponsored Clinical Trials.

 A contract executed between or among collaborating institutions for the purchase and sale of intellectual property rights. It sets forth the rights and responsibilities of each institution concerning intellectual property that may be created during the term of collaboration. It also discusses the rights associated with intellectual property that is created jointly by the collaborating researchers as well as intellectual property created independently by each. 

The TTU Office of Research Commercialization manages all Intellectual Property Agreements for TTUHSC, contact them at orc@ttu.edu.

Investigator-Initiated studies are clinical studies initiated and managed by a non-pharmaceutical company researchers, like individual investigators, institutions, collaborative study groups or cooperative groups.  The researcher is responsible for the legal and regulatory responsibilities of the trial sponsor for the conduct and management of the study as defined in applicable laws and regulations. 

Contact the Office of Sponsored Programs for all Investigator-Initiated Clinical Studies.

A Material Transfer Agreement is a contract that governs the transfer of tangible research materials between two organizations, when the recipient intends to use it for his or her own research purposes.  The MTA defines the rights of the provider and the recipient with respect to the materials and any derivatives.

Contact the Office of Sponsored Programs for all incoming and outgoing MTAs. 

What is a Material Transfer Agreement (MTA)?
A Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) is a legal contract required for the transfer of biological material between TTUHSC and academic, non-profit, or industrial institutions for research purposes.  MTAs are put in place in order to protect your intellectual property (IP) when you either provide or receive research materials— such as cell lines, cultures, bacteria, nucleotides, proteins, transgenic animals, pharmaceuticals, and chemicals — to and from research institutions or corporate entities.  Each exchange of research material requires an MTA.  For repeated exchanges of the same research material, standardized MTAs can help streamline the process.

Why are MTAs important?
MTAs are important because they protect your IP rights, limit liability, and fairly credit the developer of the materials.  Although an MTA itself does not generate revenue, it sets the stage for future licensing contracts.  An MTA outlines which party to the agreement owns intellectual property developed from use of the materials.  If TTUHSC retains ownership to this intellectual property, it is often able to license these rights to an industrial partner and garner royalties, thereby both increasing research funds available to TTUHSC generally and providing additional financial compensation to the researcher. 

Although MTAs may require some advanced planning to avoid delays in research, they serve an important purpose.  MTAs lay the foundation for individual and institutional financial gain, and protect the materials and intellectual property for which universities have rights.  These agreements also protect future intellectual property and the researchers’ rights to publish research results.  Protections like these are necessary for the existence and mission fulfillment of federally-funded universities.  With these protections in place, the brilliant minds employed by TTUHSC can focus on their research with peace of mind knowing that their contributions will be protected and properly attributed.

Who should I contact for assistance with MTAs?
TTUHSC researchers should contact the TTUHSC Office of Sponsored Programs (OSP): 
Katie Joplin at (806) 743-3427 or katie.joplin@ttuhsc.edu

MTA Procedures: 

Incoming MTAs
To request an MTA for biological materials from an outside source, the receiving scientist should follow the steps outlined here:

1. Complete the INCOMING MATERIAL TRANSFER ROUTE SHEET, and submit this route sheet and the provider’s MTA via katie.joplin@ttuhsc.edu.
2. OOR will review the submission to confirm the MTA complies with institutional policies or negotiate revisions.  If the MTA contains language that affects TTUHSC’s intellectual property rights or conflicts with the laws of the State of Texas, the TTU System Office of Technology and Commercialization or legal counsel may also be asked to review the document.
3. When the agreement has been finalized, OOR will coordinate signatures. You will then receive a PDF copy of the fully signed agreement for your records. 

Outgoing MTAs
To request an MTA for biological materials from the TTUHSC, the sending party should follow the steps outlined below:

1. Complete the OUTGOING MATERIAL TRANSFER ROUTE SHEET, and submit this route sheet via katie.joplin@ttuhsc.edu.  The information will be used to determine which MTA document will be implemented and whether further information needs to be included.
2. OOR will coordinate the creation and any proposed changes to the MTA with the requestor and copy you on the correspondence.
3. When the agreement has been finalized, OOR will coordinate signatures.  In most cases, the TTUHSC Principal Investigator will not need to sign an outgoing MTA. You will receive a PDF copy of the fully signed agreement for your records.