Addgene provides an open forum for plasmid sharing

volume 30 number 4 APrIl 2012 nature biotechnology In the following correspondence, we summarize the progress made at Addgene since its introduction2 to the research community seven years ago. Addgene currently stores >17,000 plasmids on behalf of >1,100 laboratories worldwide. In total, >185,000 samples have been sent out, along with numerous large-scale kits. By charging a small fee for each of these requests, Addgene is financially plasmids, standardizing information, facilitating legal agreements required for transfers, and developing common quality-control practices. This repository complements model organism–specific resources, such as Flybase, Xenbase, Zfin, Wormbase and the Jackson Laboratories, and reagent collections, such as those distributed by the American Type Culture Collection and the Developmental Hybridoma Bank. To the Editor: Resource sharing has always been a key part of the scientific process. Centralized repositories—or biological resource centers (BRCs)—streamline the sharing process1 by archiving, maintaining and distributing reagents to the entire academic community. Addgene, a nonprofit BRC (Cambridge, MA, USA), was founded in 2004 as a repository for archiving and distributing important Addgene provides an open forum for plasmid sharing