Terms & Conditions

We ship our viral vectors on dry ice in a P650-certified thermo-package

For package and dry ice, we charge at our net cost price:

• CHF 100.00 within Europe
• CHF 150.00 outside of Europe

Shipping itself is executed under the account number of your institution's carrier. Prices for shipping therefore depend on what your institute negotiated with the carrier.

Within Switzerland, we ship with Swiss Post and the costs for shipping are already included in the price for the package and dry ice.

Package dimensions [mm] / net weight / approximate gross weight [kg]

• Switzerland and part of Europe: 315 x 300 x 255 / 0.6 / 5
• Europe & USA: 295 x 295 x 330 / 0.74 / 8
• Rest: 405 x 360 x 364 / 1.32 / 15

Carriers

• FedEx, DHL and TNT (no UPS); other carriers possible upon request

Shipping under VVF's FedEx account

• covers at cost price the shipping costs and surcharges for dry ice and fuel
• taxes and additional costs are at the expense of customer

​Import

• The importer of the products must be able to provide all necessary import licenses to authorities and the carrier in charge upon request.

Proforma invoice

• A proforma invoice will be issued for the shipping with a declared value of CHF 10.00.

Shipping conditions

• FOB (Free On Board) shipping point

• Suitable package and cooling material (preferentially dry ice) required to be provided by customer.

• The exporter of the products listed in a dispatch note declares that, except where otherwise clearly indicated, these products are of Swiss preferential origin.

• UN 3373 (biological substances, category B)
• UN 1845 (dry ice)

• 3002.9000 (viral vectors)
• 3822.00 (plasmid-DNA)

• The handling of biological material must be in agreement with all international, national and local regulations.
• Researchers must obtain all legal permissions prior to the use of the biological material.
• Biological material (or any derivative) offered by the VVF is intended for preclinical research and excludes any use in humans.

Material transfer agreements (MTAs) to use the offered services may be required in case

• the AAV vector capsid was created by directed evolution
  (an MTA to use AAV serotype 2 capsid variant “retro” is requested by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and provided by the VVF)
• the plasmid-DNA and associated viral vectors originate entirely from a third party
  (for example Addgene; DREADD AAV vectors require no MTA)
• the plasmid-DNA and associated viral vectors contain parts originating from a third party

The information about the source of each product is available thourgh VVF's ordering system.

It is customer's responsability to obtain all required MTAs.

Downloadable electronic information provided through VVF's ordering system:

• electronic sequences of AAV vector plasmids are provided as genbank (.gb) files
• annotated images of AAV vector genomes are provided as scalable vector graphic (.svg) files

AAV vectors are

• ultracentrifuged (Optiprep)
• diafiltered against 1x PBS, pH 7.4 (including 1 mM MgCl2 and 2.5 mM KCl).

Identity check

• The identity of the packaged genomes is analyzed by Sanger DNA-sequencing of amplicons produced from the AAV vectors.

50 µl aliquots

• contain + 10 % extra volume
• are stored in 0.2 ml polypropylene PCR-tubes (free of DNase, RNase and human DNA)
• are shipped within a second secured and labelled transport container (containing an adsorbent) that is placed into a sealed plastic bag

Physical titers (vector genomes/milliliter, vg/ml) are

• quantified by a fluorometric method
• at least @ 1 x 10E12 vg/ml

Physical titers may be lower in case the AAV vector

• genome is oversized (single-stranded: > 4900, self-complementary: > 2500 nucleotides)
• plasmid encodes constitutively expressed sequences that negatively impact the AAV vector production
• plasmid is characterized and amplified by customer

Handling upon receipt

• Upon receipt of AAV vectors shipped on dry ice, it is recommended to store the AAV vectors immediately in a - 80 °C freezer for at least 4 days before thawing (in order to prevent pH changes due to gaseous CO2).

In case the 50 µl aliquots are further subaliquoted, please

• use the above indicated, sterile solvent [1x PBS, pH 7.4 (including 1 mM MgCl2 and 2.5 mM KCl)]
• prepare final volumes at or higher than 10 µl
• use low protein binding, sterile tubes suitable for long-term storage at - 80 °C (we use polypropylene PCR-tubes; other plastics were not evaluated)

Plasmid-DNA is

• amplified using multiple-deletion series (MDS™) strain 42 bacteria (LowMut ΔrecA; Scarab Genomics) or any other suitable bacterial strain
• purified using anion exchange columns (Macherey & Nagel, NucleoBond® Xtra anion-exchange columns) 
• dissolved in sterile water

• Proper citation of all material used to produce the products required.

• Please acknowledge the Viral Vector Facility (VVF) of the Neuroscience Center Zurich (ZNZ).

The VVF processes your orders to best knowledge and with greatest care to be a reliable partner for your research projects.

Despite our efforts, the outcome of biological processes may not be entirely predictable.

Therefore,

• construction and amplification of certain plasmid-DNA may not be possible despite careful and rational design (for example failure of DNA synthesis or instability of plasmid-DNA during amplification)
• quality controls may not provide meaningful information (for example Sanger DNA-sequencing reactions)
• viral vector genomes contained within their vector plasmid-DNA may only be partially transferred into virions (for example, certain tdTomato sequences will only be packaged into AAV vectors as dTomato)

If the VVF encounters such situations, you will be informed accordingly and we will discuss together how to proceed.

In the event no alternatives are available, the VVF will only charge you at its cost price for the time and material spent up to this point.