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Bm14 Agreement

FR3 is responsible for having third parties who wish to use recombinant filarial antigen Bm14 sign a Conditions of Use document with the following provisions prior to any transfer of material

FR3 is responsible for having third parties who wish to use recombinant filarial antigen Bm14 sign a Conditions of Use document with the following provisions prior to any transfer of materials:

Bm14 Conditions of Use Document:


a.  Biological materials such as Bm14-his and control antigens provided by FR3 are to be used for research only. They may not be used for commercial purposes. Parties interested in commercial use of this antigen should contact Dr. Gary Weil (gweil@im.wustl.edu).

b.  No patient, company, governmental body, etc., should be charged for tests performed with Biological Materials provided to FR3 through this agreement. The antigens are not FDA approved for diagnostic or clinical use, and they should not be used for making clinical decisions about individual patients.

c.  The Weil Laboratory will provide a protocol to FR3 for use of Bm14-his and the CAT-his control antigen. This is the recommended protocol for detecting IgG4 antibodies to Bm14-his. The protocol calls for inclusion of positive and negative serum standards in each antibody assay, and it requires special reagents such as peroxidase-labeled monoclonal antibody against human IgG4. FR3 and the Weil laboratory will not provide these reagents, and each laboratory must develop their own assay and QC program. Publications that report results obtained with Bm14-his from FR3 must specify details of the protocol employed and the source of all reagents used in the antibody assay.

d.  Bm14-his antigen is only available in limited quantities. Requests for antigen must include information to show that the requesting scientist(s) have the necessary infrastructure and experience to properly develop and interpret antibody assays with this antigen.

e.  Decisions regarding shipment of Biological Materials will be at the discretion of the Director of FR3. The Director may choose to consult with outside advisors or FR3 Board members in questionable cases. The default shipment will be 200 ug of each purified antigen, which is sufficient for 10 ELISA plates and approximately 900 tests. Requests for larger quantities must be accompanied by a letter of justification that will be reviewed by the Director of FR3 (and advisors, at the Director’s discretion).  Note that FR3 is not authorized by this agreement to be a source of reagents for large-scale antibody screening projects (example, evaluation of national or regional filariasis elimination programs). Such “programmatic use” is to be distinguished from “research”.

f.  Publications that report data or results obtained with Bm14-his antigen from FR3 must acknowledge that the antigen was provided by the NIAID/NIH Filariasis Research Reagent Repository Center, Smith College, Northampton, MA, USA, Barnes-Jewish Hospital, and the laboratory of Dr. Gary Weil at Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA. Co-authorship is not necessary for use of the antigen. However, RECIPIENT and third parties that use Biological Materials must agree to provide FR3 and Dr. Gary Weil with one reprint of any article that reports results obtained with Biological Materials.

g.  The Biological Materials from Barnes-Jewish Hospital and FR3 will not be used for research on humans. They are only to be used for in vitro studies.

h. Human serum samples supplied to FR3 are not known to contain infectious agents, but all human serum samples are potentially infectious and must be handled with universal precautions.

i.  By accepting and/or using the Biological Materials, the user and their institution hereby agree to indemnify, hold harmless, and defend Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University and their respective trustees, officers, employees, students, and agents against any and all claims for death, illness, personal injury, property damage, and improper business practices arising out of the possession, storage, transmission or use of Biological Material(s) and/or associated serum samples.

Signed (Principal Investigator Making the Request) ______________________________________
Date:  ______________________________________

Signed (Steven A. Williams, FR3)  ____________________________________________________
Date:  ______________________________________





Steven A. Williams, Ph.D.
Gates Professor of Biological Sciences
Smith College
Northampton, MA 01063
Phone: 413-585-3857
email: genome@email.smith.edu
Smith College official correspondence