Safeguarding your legacy for the future

A case study on how to protect your reagents after your retirement

Dr Pranab K. Das was a professor at the Universiteit van Amsterdam for 30 years, specialising in skin diseases, particularly leprosy-mycobacterial infections and idiopathic diseases such as vitiligo, psoriasis and skin cancer.

During the course of his career, Dr Pranab K. Das created a large number of reagents and published over 190 papers. However, once he retired in 2006 and decided to move to the UK to take a Senior Honorary Position at the University of Birmingham, his reagents were at risk. Neither the Universiteit van Amsterdam nor the University of Birmingham had the space needed to store and manage his reagents. Through a contact at the University of Birmingham’s Technology Transfer Office, Dr Pranab Das was put in contact with Ximbio.

“Since my retirement I have been searching for a space to store all my cell lines, hybridoma and gene fragments as I did not want them going to waste. This search took up a lot of my time and energy as well as that of several Master and Ph.D. students, post docs and gifted technicians. I was put in contact with Cancer Research Technology and Ximbio through a member of the knowledge transfer and innovation division of the University of Birmingham.”

Dr Pranab K. Das

Ximbio moved Dr Pranab K. Das’ reagent collection to Ximbio’s UK repository and is now working to catalogue his collection and add the most important reagents to the Ximbio portfolio. These reagents will then be made available to the wider scientific community to license and use. This will ensure these significant reagents are safeguarded for the future. Any revenue generated from the licensing of these reagents is then shared back to Dr Pranab Das.

“Ximbio was great - they fully understood my concerns and were able to successfully transport my reagents from the Netherlands to the UK and store them safely in Ximbio’s repository. I am thoroughly relieved that my reagents are safe and have every trust in Ximbio, that they will be managed properly. It is fantastic news that my scientific legacy will not be going to waste and will instead be available for any researcher to access and use as needed.”

Dr Pranab K. Das

Ximbio partners with specialised cell line, Hybridoma / Antibody / Peptide and small molecule, mouse and zebrafish repositories, alongside its own repository, to ensure the secure storage of all reagents within its portfolio. For more information on Ximbio’s repository partnerships, read our blog.