Placing a Request
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Followup
Placing a Request
Your lab must have established a Principal Investigator account before you can place a request on our site. Please see details about setting up a PI account here.
Use one of the 6 different request forms, depending on the type of reagent you want. See the options below.
Class I: This form is broken into two parts: custom requests, found at the top of the form, and premade requests. You can use the search functions on the premade list to see if the product is available without custom synthesis. If not, you can use the custom form. It will allow you to place a request for all classical class I and peptide binding nonclassical class I reagents, such as HLA*E and Qa-1 reagents.
Class II: This form is broken into two parts: custom requests, found at the top of the form, and pre-made requests. We have over 200 pre-made reagents available from our facility. You can use the search filters to see if the reagent is available from our pre-made list. When you place a class II reagent request, a control reagent will be automatically added to your cart.
CD1: We offer pre-made CD1 reagents from several species, either empty or loaded with PBS57 or OCH ligands. Requesting a loaded CD1 reagent will automatically add an unloaded control to your cart.
MR1: We offer pre-made MR1 reagents from human, mouse, and rhesus macaque, loaded with 5-OP-RU or 6-FP. Requesting a 5-OP-RU MR1 reagent will automatically add a 6-FP MR1 control reagent to your cart.
CD1d Ligands: We offer 3 different ‘ligand only’ reagents, which can be requested using this form.
Other: This form has a custom request section and a pre-made section as well. It is used for the request of non-ligand binding MHC or other proteins.
Shopping Cart
As requests are submitted, they are added to your 'shopping cart' to await checkout. You can log out and come back to this later; the shopping cart will keep your requests around until you are ready to check out. You must be logged in to utilize the shopping cart functionality.
Some types of requests may require additional information to be entered into fields that appear in your list of requests in the shopping cart.
- Custom synthesis requests will request binding evidence, and PMIDs if available.
- Requests for larger quantities will require justification to be provided.
Checkout
Once you have submitted all your reagent requests, you are ready to check out. The checkout process involves several steps, each presented on a separate page.
- Order Information - this page is where you’ll enter the details about the research you’re doing, and why you need this particular reagent. You are able and encouraged to include attachments to support your request on this page (limited to < 7MB of attachments). Some fields, such as "Research Project Summary/Goals", are required, and will not allow you to continue unless filled in.
- Associated Staff - Here, you can enter the staff to be associated with this order, including all lab/primary contacts and staff members. You can select from a checklist of all existing sub-accounts, and PIs can create new sub-account at this step if required. Any sub-accounts created will then become available in the checklist. Please note that the account placing the request is already considered associated staff and is not selectable in the staff list. The PI, whoever placed the order, and all selected staff on this page will receive email communications from us regarding the order.
- Shipping Address - This page allows you to select from one of your established shipping profiles, or to create a new shipping profile by clicking the "Select an address" dropdown and choosing the "+enter a new address" option. You can also specify your shipping preferences here:
- Group my items into as few shipments as possible - we will keep available items on hold until all active requests can be delivered at once
- Ship my items as soon as they become available - we will ship your items as they become ready for distribution (with the exception of control reagents which are awaiting availability of the reagents for which they are a control)
Request Follow-up
The tetramer request follow-up process is managed by two entities:
1. The NIAID/NIH Project Officer and the Tetramer Resource Committee (TRC) at the NIH in Bethesda, MD
2. The Facility Manager at the NIH Tetramer Facility at Emory University in Atlanta, GA
The follow-up process can be broken down into three steps.
Step 1: All reagent requests, whether new or for refills, should be placed through our website according to the instructions above. Our site allows a single order to contain as many reagent requests as required. You may, however, be asked to prioritize items in large orders greater than 10 items, in order to ensure equal access to our services for all clients.
These requests are automatically sent to the NIH TRC for review. It is important that the requester complete all fields of the request form, even for refill requests. Incomplete request forms will be held for consideration until the required information is provided.
Requests will be reviewed in a confidential manner by the NIH TRC comprised of NIH staff. Details on the review process can be found here.
All clients are required to have a current Materials Transfer Agreement between a Principal Invesigator at their respective Institution and the NIH Tetramer Core Facility. Please note that the MTA policy is different for non-profit clients, commercial clients, and non-profit clients with funding from commercial sources. Please see our MTA page for the specifics on each of these scenarios.
Step 2: Requesters are informed of approval by the NIH Tetramer Facility Manager via email notification. The email will include any additional follow-up instructions for the client that must be completed by the client, such as the need to complete MTAs, reminders to submit feedback for previous orders, or the requirement to supply peptide for custom syntheses.
Step 3: The NIH Tetramer Facility Manager organizes reagent production and shipment to requesters. The Facility Manager may contact the requester to coordinate shipments or to discuss any issues related to production of the approved reagents. Requesters may also contact the Facility Manager to receive a progress report on a particular order.
For custom-made class I and class II reagents, requesters may be requested to submit the necessary epitope peptides to the NIH Tetramer Facility. Epitope peptide submissions should normally be 10 mg of lyophilized, >80% pure peptide per allele/peptide combination. There are some scenarios where more peptide may be required. More specific instructions and guidelines will be provided in your approval notification. Please do not ship peptides to our facility before your request has been formally placed, reviewed, and approved. If peptide is requested, it should be shipped to us within four months of request approval. Approved requests that do not meet this deadline will be inactivated, and the requester will have to submit a new request online.
Custom synthesis for items that require the client to supply peptide generally takes 6-10 weeks from receipt of peptide (or from approval, if we have more of the client's peptide remaining from a previous custom synthesis). Any reagent that requires new construct design and cloning may require 3-6 months to complete. The time frame for receiving a reagent can vary from these average estimates depending upon the timing of the TRC meeting, the workload at the Tetramer Facility, technical issues related to actual tetramer production, and shipping delays.