Researchers from many leading institutions have joined the Kerafast community, making their reagents easily accessible to the global scientific community.

We recently surveyed nearly 200 of these providing investigators to get their feedback on the Kerafast program. The survey asked about their experiences working with us and provided an opportunity to weigh in on new reagents, marketing campaigns and suggestions for building the community. We look forward to using the results to help us grow and improve the Kerafast program.

One question asked about the main benefits of working with us. Below you’ll find the top seven responses – take a look and discover the reasons why researchers have chosen to work with Kerafast.

1. To fulfill requests for their reagents without needing to go through the traditional MTA process

The Kerafast digital platform allows for an instant Material Transfer Agreement (MTA), significantly reducing the time and effort required for investigators to provide reagents to other researchers. To accomplish this, we work with providers’ technology commercialization offices to establish two license agreements: a non-exclusive provider license that maintains intellectual property rights while permitting Kerafast to sell the reagent and an online “research use only” click license modeled after the NIH guidelines for tools. Customers simply agree to the click license when purchasing reagents online – and then the materials can be shipped immediately, with no additional paperwork or time commitment needed.

2. To receive free marketing that helps spread the word about their reagents

To help spread the word about novel research tools, we promote providers’ reagents to life scientists across the globe. This allows investigators to discover new materials they may not have seen yet in scientific literature – and then quickly access them for use in their own research. Our marketing activities include targeted email campaigns, banner ads on journal websites, paid search and organic SEO, tradeshow attendance and website features on our homepage and blog. These activities help generate interest and demand for unique reagents.

3. To advance scientific progress by facilitating access to their reagents

The Kerafast mission is to advance life science research by facilitating access to unique research materials. We get these novel reagents into the hands of scientists who can use them to advance their research. Then, we return a generous portion of every sale to the contributing scientists and their institutions, providing an extra stream of funding for their new research. The program therefore helps fuel the work of both providing and procuring laboratories, helping to advance scientific progress overall.

4. To streamline the packaging and shipping of their reagents

We work with our providing investigators to make sending their reagents to requesting researchers as easy as possible. We offer our providers different levels of shipping support. First, we can store and ship the reagent at our lab. In addition, providers can help us ship for a higher royalty payment; they store the reagent at their lab, while we provide shipping kits and pre-paid shipping labels. In both cases, we handle export control and tracking.

5. To receive an extra stream of funding for their lab

Every quarter, we provide contributing scientists and their institutions with royalty payments from their reagent sales. The payment is determined with a straightforward royalty formula that takes into account how much the laboratory participates in fulfilling customer orders. We provide the payments to the institution’s technology commercialization office, which then distributes the proper portion to each participating investigator.

6. Because we handle the technical support questions from their reagents’ end users

We handle all interactions with procuring scientists, including processing payment, answering questions and providing technical support. We only involve providing investigators if there is a question we are unable to answer. As the point of contact for all customers, we address any issues that may arise and handle all back-and-forth communication, removing that responsibility from providing laboratories.

7. Because we help with reagent production to meet demand from other scientists

If meeting demand for a reagent becomes too time-consuming for the providing investigator, we can help. We are able to store and ship reagents from our in-house laboratory, and can also take over production of certain cell lines and antibodies. The investigator simply supplies us with an aliquot of the reagent; we then maintain a stock of the material at our laboratory and can ship it to requesting scientists as soon as new orders are placed.

Have questions, or want to discuss how you can become a providing investigator? Please contact us at community@kerafast.com or 617-336-3228.