Our Story We Connect Scientists, Materials, and Knowledge to Advance Discovery
Addgene is a nonprofit scientific repository that helps researchers share and access plasmids, viral vectors, and recombinant antibodies. We handle the logistics — quality control, material transfer agreements, and global shipping — so researchers can spend more time on discovery.
We distribute materials on behalf of thousands of labs from around the world. Our collection contains 172,474 plasmids, along with ready-to-use viral vectors and recombinant antibodies. Materials have been requested over 2 million times and shipped to researchers in 113 countries.
Our Mission
Addgene empowers scientists to advance discoveries by reducing barriers, facilitating access to high-quality research materials, tools, and resources, and fostering collaboration worldwide.
We believe that when scientific materials and knowledge are shared openly and responsibly, research moves faster and becomes more reproducible. As a nonprofit organization, every decision we make is guided by our values and our mission.
A Repository Connecting Scientists and Quality Materials
Quality-controlled materials, from labs worldwide
Addgene maintains one of the world's largest repositories of plasmids created by scientists around the world. Every plasmid in our collection is curated and sequence-verified before it's made available. We also provide plasmid-derived, ready-to-use materials like viral vectors and recombinant antibodies.
Logistics, handled
Our Contracts Management team works with technology transfer offices to manage material transfer agreements on behalf of depositing institutions, getting tools online faster and reducing the administrative burden on individual labs. Our Logistics team handles global delivery, including customs requirements for researchers in 113 countries.
Educational resources, free for any researcher
Alongside our materials, Addgene offers free scientific guides, eBooks, protocols, and blog content, developed by our scientists and curators. We also provide the Data Hub, where researchers can see how materials have been used across labs and settings, and a Developers Portal for open-source integration of plasmid data.
Scientist-to-scientist support
When you contact us, you reach scientists that have been at the bench, just like you, who understand your work firsthand and can walk you through the next steps. Scientific sharing only works if the support behind it is as reliable as the materials.
Founded by Scientists and Built to Last
Addgene was founded in 2004 to solve what co-founder Melina Fan describes plainly: "the logistical problem of scientific sharing." It wasn't that scientists didn't want to share – there just wasn't a system in place.
Rather than accept that as the norm, Addgene was built as a nonprofit to solve it: centralize storage and distribution of research materials, handle transfer agreements, and make materials accessible to any researcher, anywhere, at low cost, so that everyone around the world can benefit from research.
Over 20 years, that founding purpose has expanded from plasmid sharing to a full repository covering viral vectors and recombinant antibodies, educational resources, the Data Hub, and a Developers Portal. As President and Executive Director Chonnettia Jones, PhD puts it:
"Our purpose hasn't changed in 20 years. We still exist to advance discovery and innovation by helping scientists do their research more easily, quickly, and reproducibly."
Values That Guide Our Work
We value all people, of all backgrounds, and celebrate the many roles required to build a community that centers scientific sharing.
Supportive culture
We are dedicated to creating a supportive environment where every individual can thrive — and channel that commitment into genuine resources and support for the scientific community.
Expanded accessibility
We work to remove financial, technical, and geographic barriers to scientific materials and knowledge — for researchers at every career stage, in every part of the world.
Constructive collaboration
We believe better science happens through shared resources and shared effort. Collaboration, not competition, is how discovery accelerates.
Meaningful connections
We connect researchers, institutions, and ideas across disciplines and borders.
Continuous evolution
We grow alongside the community we serve — expanding our capabilities and adapting as science changes.
Meet Addgene
Hear from four members of the Addgene team, from our founding leadership to our scientific staff, on who we are and why this work matters.
Our Team
Addgene works because of the people behind it. Our team (we call ourselves Addgenies) includes research scientists, scientific curators, educators, technology transfer specialists, shipping and operations experts, and software engineers. Different roles, shared purpose: making scientific sharing reliable, accessible, and worth doing.
We believe the work of building a globally connected scientific community requires all kinds of expertise, and we celebrate that. If you're curious about what it's like to work here, take a look at our careers page.
Our Leadership
Addgene is led by innovators with experience across nonprofit, industry, and academic institutions. Meet our leadership team.
Facilitating Global Community and Discovery
For more than two decades, Addgene has supported a global culture of scientific sharing. We have received and distributed materials from thousands of laboratories worldwide. Every material shared through Addgene represents a collaboration between scientists working to advance discovery. Read more about our impact (Link opens in a new window).
There is fantastic research happening in regions of the world that are under-resourced. Because of the vast network of scientists around the world who work with us, Addgene encourages connection and collaboration, reducing barriers by making the latest research materials available at low cost, so that everyone around the world can benefit from research.
Addgene's collection has historically centered on academic research. We are actively growing our catalog to serve industry, pre-commercial, and pre-clinical researchers, because the materials that begin in academic labs often end up informing the treatments and technologies that reach patients.
We do this work in service of a single vision: a healthier, more equitable, and more sustainable world for everyone, enabled by scientific discovery and collaboration.
A Unique Nonprofit
Addgene's distinctiveness doesn't come from scale alone. It comes from how we combine mission, rigor, and practical support in service of scientific sharing. Every decision we make is guided by that mission.
As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, we are not a vendor and not just a repository. We serve as a platform and partner — providing scientist-to-scientist support, handling the operational complexity of sharing at scale, and prioritizing the advancement of science. When you work with Addgene, you are working with an organization whose success is measured by how well science moves forward.
Funds collected from material requests support the operations of the repository. Charitable contributions are tax deductible.
Let’s Advance Scientific Discovery Together
We're always looking for people who care about science and want to help build something that matters.
Learn about Addgene's partnerships, services, and scientific community updates.