Governance, Collaboration & Citation
Verdant Center for Spatial Biology is an independent U.S. nonprofit organization focused on shared scientific infrastructure, measurement frameworks, and collaborative research in spatial and environmental biology.
Organization
Verdant is recognized as tax-exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and is classified as a private foundation under Section 509(a).
EIN: 41-3550868
Effective date of exemption: December 23, 2025
How Verdant Works
Verdant collaborates with researchers, institutions, and domain experts where spatial context, measurement quality, or biological complexity creates a real scientific problem.
Participation is non-exclusive and does not transfer intellectual property by default. Researchers remain responsible for complying with their employer, institution, funding, confidentiality, and conflict-of-interest requirements.
Verdant does not request proprietary information, unauthorized use of institutional resources, or activities outside normal scientific collaboration.
What Verdant Is Not
- A proprietary data platform or marketplace
- A contract research organization
- A membership-based consortium
- A commercial technology vendor
- A substitute for domain expertise or institutional oversight
Verdant may participate in analysis, experimental design, method development, interpretation, coordination, or scientific infrastructure, depending on the collaboration.
Research Boundaries
Verdant does not conduct human surveillance, collect identifiable human data, operate animal facilities, or conduct xenografting.
Verdant may work with data generated from organoids, engineered organisms, animal models, or other experimental systems when scientifically appropriate, but ethical and regulatory oversight remains with the institution conducting the work.
Verdant is technology-neutral. Its role is to understand biological systems and improve measurement, not to advocate for any particular platform, organism, intervention, or industry.
Collaboration and Cost
Most Verdant collaborations are structured around defined research questions, grants, institutional partnerships, or shared scientific infrastructure.
Where paid work is appropriate, scope and cost are agreed in advance. Small advisory engagements may be billed as expert consulting, while larger efforts are typically structured as fixed projects, institutional agreements, or grant-supported collaborations.
Verdant may also accept non-cash support such as compute, instrument access, laboratory access, or field logistics when those contributions do not create exclusivity, IP capture, or control over scientific interpretation.
Reduced-cost or pro bono work may be considered for conservation, stewardship, or scientifically important projects where normal funding is unavailable.
Citation and Credit
Verdant does not require citation simply for participating in a discussion, providing infrastructure, or offering general methodological guidance.
Authorship or formal attribution should follow normal disciplinary standards when Verdant researchers contribute experimental work, analysis, method development, interpretation, writing, or other substantive intellectual contributions.
When referencing Verdant's methodological framework, the preferred citation is:
Verdant Center for Spatial Biology. STMet: Spatial Transcriptomics as a Measurement Framework for Contextual Biology. OSF. DOI: 10.17605/OSF.IO/E32Q5
Short form: Verdant CFSB, STMet, OSF DOI: 10.17605/OSF.IO/E32Q5
Scientific Principle
Verdant treats spatial context, environmental context, and measurement assumptions as part of the experiment rather than as downstream details.
The goal is simple: produce measurements and methods that remain interpretable when biological systems are heterogeneous, dynamic, or difficult to reduce to averages.