NIH Resource Sharing Plans

The Resource Sharing Plan is a separate attachment from the Data Management and Sharing (DMS) Plan and is only required for projects that develop research tools and/or model organisms:

Sharing Model Organisms

Regardless of the amount requested, all applications where the development of model organisms is anticipated are expected to include a description of a specific plan for sharing and distributing unique model organisms or state why such sharing is restricted or not possible.

NIH Model Organism Sharing Policy
NIH Grants Policy Statement Sharing Model Organisms

In addition to the language suggested below, include how the strains will be made available including the form of the organism, the sharing timeframe, if a repository will be used and if relevant, minimization of risks of infection or contamination.

Dartmouth shall share model organisms and related research resources, in accordance with the NIH Grant Policy on Sharing of Unique Research Resources including the Sharing of Biomedical Research Resources Principles and Guidelines for Recipients of NIH Grants and Contracts issued in December, 1999, with the research community, pending third parties rights, via Material Transfer Agreements (MTAs) generated and monitored by Dartmouth's Technology Transfer Office. Such MTAs will be made with no more restrictive terms than in the Simple Letter Agreement (SLA) to non-profit institutions or the Uniform Biological Materials Transfer Agreement (UBMTA) to for-profit ones.

Research Tools:

NIH considers the sharing of unique research resources developed through NIH-sponsored research an important means to enhance the value and further the advancement of the research. When resources have been developed with NIH funds, and the associated research findings published or provided to NIH, it is important that they be made readily available for research purposes to qualified individuals within the scientific community.

NIH uses a broad definition of “research tool”. In general, NIH considers research tools to be unique research resource that encompass full range of tools that scientists use in the laboratory, including: cell lines, monoclonal antibodies, reagents, animal models, growth factors, combinatorial chemistry and DNA libraries, clones and cloning tools (such as PCR), methods, laboratory equipment and machines.

NIH Research Tools Policy
NIH Grants Policy Statement Sharing Research Resources

Please use the following language:

Tools will be made available, in accordance with the NIH Research Tool Sharing Policy, to all researchers in both the private and public sector free or for a nominal charge and with minimal restriction. In some cases the Trustees of Dartmouth College (the institution) may determine that the public and the research community are better served by a licensing program whether or not patents have been filed. This may be relevant, for example, if a tool is best distributed under license to guarantee reagent availability and quality.

So that the entire research community can benefit from the tools generated by the institution, pending third parties rights, the institution will transfer materials to outside researchers under a Material Transfer Agreements (MTAs) generated and monitored by Dartmouth’s Technology Transfer Office. Such MTAs will be made with no more restrictive terms than the Simple Letter Agreement (SLA) to non-profit institutions or the Uniform Biological Material Transfer Agreement (UMBTA) to for-profit ones.

Generally, the MTA will also include a requirement that new data developed by recipients of the tool become a part of publicly available data.