Over decades, Canada has invested billions of dollars in world-class biotechnology expertise spanning agriculture, health, environmental sustainability, and industry. Each year, researchers across the country develop thousands of biological reagents: DNA toolkits, parts, microbial strains, enzymes, engineered cell lines, and other foundational research tools. Many are created through publicly funded research and are not patented, yet they remain hard for others to obtain. Distribution logistics and the restrictive material transfer agreements (MTAs) used by many academic institutions limit their reuse, and with it their impact on research, education, innovation, and commercialization.

The Canadian Reagent User Network (RUN) is a SynBio Canada-led, community-driven pilot program that aims to change this. Through a network of participating institutions and organizations, known as RUN Distribution Hubs, RUN will make validated biological reagents easier to access across Canada. Standardized MTAs will support reuse and redistribution within Canada for both non-profit and commercial purposes. By making proven tools widely available, RUN reduces duplicated effort and accelerates biotechnology innovation nationwide.

Reliable access to biological reagents is an important part of Canada’s scientific sovereignty. A national network to preserve and distribute these materials strengthens domestic research capacity, reduces reliance on international supply chains, and keeps Canadian innovations accessible within Canada.

Sovereignty does not mean isolation from the global research community. A strong national reagent network lets Canada take part in international collaboration and trade from a position of strength and reciprocity, while ensuring that critical research capabilities remain available to Canadian innovators. RUN aims to show that reagent distribution can become a national scientific asset.