ADDGENE A UNIQUE NON-PROFIT BIOTECH

Joanne Kamens, PhD Executive Director

How I Got Here

• Advisor with strong ties to industry

• Collaborations

Harvard PhD

• RNAi early adoptor • Good at managing • Incensed by lack of

diversity in science • Collaborations

BASF/Abbott (Pharma) • Director of Research

• Business Dev • HBA leadership role • Alliances

RXi (Biotech)

• Executive Director and all that entails

• ?

Addgene (Non-profit)

Couple of Kids

Addgene Helps Scientists Share Plasmids Non-profit, mission driven company dedicated to facilitating

collaboration and sharing in the scientific community We fund this mission by making it easy to share plasmids!

Digression—What is a Plasmid? • Plasmids are fragments of double-stranded DNA that can

replicate independently of chromosomal DNA, and usually carry genes

• Scientists can easily study and manipulate genes and other genetic elements using specifically engineered plasmids which have become possibly the most ubiquitous tools in the molecular biologist’s toolbox

• Types of Plasmids • Cloning • Expression • Gene knock-down • Reporter • Viral

>20,000 plasmids stored From >1,360 contributing labs, 270 institutions worldwide >250,000 plasmids shipped (not including kits), 1,400/week 45% shipped to scientists outside the United States

Samples shipped within 2 business days of MTA approval “I do science differently because I can use the Addgene library to find reagents”

Addgene Statistics

¼ Million Milestone

Sharing Plasmids with Addgene

It’s free to deposit plasmids • Addgene’s PhD Scientists help store plasmid data and take care

of the quality control sequencing We work with the Tech Transfer Offices • To establish MTAs for each plasmid What plasmids to we solicit for deposit? • Published Plasmids • Soon to be published plasmids—Addgene can hold plasmids

until publication, once the paper is published, we can associate the deposit with the appropriate PubMed ID and make them available online

• Full length genes, Reporters, Plasmid tools /collections useful to the community

Why is this Working?

• Tenacious and talented founders • First adopters were respected scientists,

prestigious institutions, leading TTOs • Plasmids were getting less “valuable” in

potential licensing terms • Everybody was getting fed up with how

long it takes to get an MTA in place • Addgene created a “Win-Win-Win” service

Creating a Win-Win-Win Situation Depositor Wins

– Save time by not having to answer requests for published reagents – Gain exposure with searchable database – Increase citations of depositor publications – Protection against usual lab turnover, archiving of key reagents – Never have to figure out how to ship to Qatar

Requestor Wins – Gain access to many laboratories’ plasmids through one order – Find things you didn’t know you needed in the database – Actually receive the plasmids requested, usually within days, and no

reminder emails need to be sent to a busy lab tech – International access – Rigorous QC and curation

Technology Transfer Office Wins – Scientists actually use MTAs to exchange plasmids – “Credit” for clearing MTAs rapidly – Get a list of who has plasmids any time (for grants or legal record keeping)

Addgene’s Electronic MTA System

• You want it, you sign it—no red lining • Based on the Universal Biological MTA • Each plasmid exchange has a signed MTA • Addgene maintains close relationships with the Tech

Transfer Offices to make this as easy as possible

15% 3%

9%

74%

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How would you rate your level of satisfaction with Addgene’s MTA services?

New Initiative – Therapeutic Area Collaborations

www.addgene.org/PD

• Addgene is collaborating with The Michael J. Fox

Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF) to assemble a collection of plasmid DNA samples useful for researchers studying this disease

• MJFF has provided a set of 200 plasmids available for both academic and industry requestors

Pilot Initiative—Distribution to Industry

• Two collections (~1,000 plasmids) now available to industry requestors

• Only slightly modified MTA (very similar to the UBMTA) • Addgene actually has some industry depositors-still

working on ways to continue to bridge the gap