General Information

Dr. Lee has been working with a variety of industrial partners for the last 15 years. These interactions have taken the form of small service contracts, large R&D contracts and industry supported research grants. Dr. Lee has also been a member of a number of scientific advisory boards for industry and is well aware that industry operates within defined constraints.

Intellectual Property

Industrial collaboration at Dalhousie is facilitated by the fact the Dalhousie University makes no claim regarding Intellectual Property. In the collective agreement between the Faculty Association and Dalhousie University, there is a clause that specifically grants all rights to intellectual property to the individual faculty member. In most cases, Dr. Lee finds that the industrial collaboration is advanced most readily by a simple transfer of intellectual property to the sponsoring company for a small fee. This circumvents complex licensing agreements which may constrain the industrial partner in any future negotiations with corporate investors.

Confidentiality

In all agreements with industry a confidentiality clause is included which prevents disclosure of confidential information. Moreover, all discussions regarding the project are considered confidential disclosures. All personnel in Dr. Lee‚s laboratory are aware of the confidentiality constraints associated with their work. Senior lab personnel have many years of experience in this area.

Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) Status

The laboratory operates as close to GLP status as a University laboratory can. All data is directly recorded in project specific books, essentially according to GLP regulations, including signatures on every page. All slides, specimens and hard copy data are well labelled and stored in a secure environment. All electronic data are stored on password protected single use computers. Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are available for all procedures. Dr. Lee has experience presenting data to the FDA and is aware of the requirements they impose on data collection, storage, analysis and presentation.

Contract Agreements

By far the most common interaction between Dr. Lee's laboratory and industry is the Research Contract. Dr. Lee prefers this option since the distribution of issues such as intellectual property and deliverables are clearly laid out in advance of the research performed. Dalhousie University has a standard Research Agreement which is modified slightly to fit each industrial interaction. Trained personnel in our Research Services and Industry Liaison Departments work with industrial partners to wordsmith the contract to meet the needs of the company and the requirements imposed on Dalhousie University as a publicly funded institution.

Generally the contracts take the form of one year agreements that can be modified or extended at any time by amendments to the contract. Generally, interim reports are provided to the sponsoring company and the "Final Report" is the primary deliverable for the contract.

Publication of Results

Because Dalhousie University is a publicly funded institution it cannot engage in "secret research" except under exceptional circumstances (such as contracts with DND). As such, Dr. Lee has the right to publish the results of all experimentation performed under the sponsorship of industrial partners. Having said that, Dr. Lee and Dalhousie University recognize that early publication of results before patent protection is filed would be damaging to the industrial partner. Because of this, it is normal to negotiate a delay in publication clause such that the industrial partner has time to protect intellectual property before submission of any research for publication.

Material Transfer Agreement (MTA)

Due to the potential liability they present to the University, all MTAs must be signed off by the Office of Research Services of the University. This protects the industrial partner, the University and the individual researchers.