The NSRB requires that investigators sign a data sharing agreement prior to reserving screen time in the facility. This agreement provides for deposition of primary screening data into an internal, non-public database that can only be accessed by NSRB and ICCB investigators and collaborators who have deposited data. This database allows screeners to compare their data to those obtained by other screeners, and it has proved invaluable for troubleshooting, interpreting results, and designing followup studies. We have been advised that data deposition should not be considered public disclosure for the purposes of patent prosecution. It is expected that investigators will have intellectual property rights to screens brought to the NSRB. Harvard Medical School does not expect inventorship rights for conducting pre-existing screening assays using commercially available compounds. A formal collaboration agreement addressing intellectual property and other matters may be required for more extensive screening or medicinal chemistry collaborations.
If entering into the data sharing agreement will engender particular hardship for an investigator, the Advisory Committee may grant a waiver with regard to data deposition. Please contact the NSRB if this is a concern.
Projects will not be charged for facility expenses, equipment, or NSRB staff time, as these expenses are RCE-supported. Based on current estimates of screening costs and demand, the NSRB undertakes to provide for each screen all "common" consumables required to assay 50,000 compound wells in duplicate. Consumables will include standard assay plates, standard plastics, and certain types of growth media and detection reagents. Since a typical screen assays between 50,000 and 100,000 compound wells in duplicate, the NSRB contribution represents a significant portion of any individual screen. Investigators are responsible for all further costs of screening, including assay development costs, but the NSRB may under some circumstances provide additional support. Please contact us to determine which supplies will be provided by the NSRB.