UNeMed contracts specialist nets national award

UNeMed contracts specialist Jeff Andersen earned national recognition recently with a Golden Stopwatch Award.

“It’s an area that doesn’t often get much attention, but Jeff Andersen has quietly become one of the best contracting managers in the nation,” said Michael Dixon, Ph.D., president and CEO of UNeMed, the technology transfer and commercialization office for UNMC and UNO. “His customer service and turnaround time on MTAs (material transfer agreements) and CDAs (confidential disclosure agreements) is outstanding.”

Presented by Addgene, the Golden Stopwatch Award recognizes technology transfer professionals for “outstanding” turnaround times in processing MTAs. Addgene is a major international plasmid repository based in Watertown, Massachusetts.

This is Addgene’s first year presenting the awards. In all, 37 tech transfer agents around the world received the honor.

“The best thing about receiving the award is that it is a reflection of our great team here at UNeMed,” Andersen said. “My colleagues here are a true asset — I couldn’t do it without them. The open lines of communication and the spirit of teamwork here at the office allow us to keep things on track and provide high quality service to our university, its faculty and its staff, which, at the end of the day, is our ultimate goal.”

An MTA is a legal contract commonly prepared, reviewed and processed by tech transfer and commercialization offices, such as UNeMed. MTAs document the transfer of tangible research materials between institutions. These tangible research materials are usually biological materials, such as plasmids, cell lines, mice strains, or human tissue, but may also include non-biological materials as well.

MTAs allow scientists to obtain these essential research materials from other institutions, but they set forth parameters under which the research materials may be used. Ideally, MTA parameters protect the interests of both parties, while ensuring adherence to applicable institutional and legal requirements. Parameters may include terms related to confidentiality obligations, duration of use, the type of use, ownership of intellectual property arising from the use, publication of results, warranty, liability, or compliance with applicable laws.

On average, Andersen and UNeMed field about 358 MTAs each year. Since Andersen joined UNeMed in January 2015, UNeMed has processed approximately 1,500 MTAs.

In the fiscal year ending in 2019, UNeMed processed 344 MTA requests. The company record is 390, set in 2017.