Evidence
Build literature maps, source verification, endpoint landscapes, or reproductions of public analyses.
Independent Open Researcher pathway
Formal affiliation is not the entry requirement. Trustworthy contribution is.
Independent scientists, developers, analysts, retired researchers, patient and caregiver experts, citizen scientists, and other serious contributors can bring useful questions and bounded work to mitochondrial-disease research.
Who qualifies
Ability can be demonstrated without credentials or a university title.
MDA can evaluate publications, code, notebooks, technical writing, training, work samples, lived-experience expertise, supervised task performance, references, or an MDA skills challenge.
You participate in your personal capacity.
No employer, client, sponsor, or institution directs or funds the work.
No third-party confidentiality, outside-work, or invention-assignment term claims the contribution.
You can accept MDA's direct agreement and assign defined Project IP.
Start without sensitive data
Contribute first. Earn trust and responsibility through demonstrated work.
Data and methods
Create public or synthetic notebooks, statistical methods, data dictionaries, phenotype mappings, or quality-control tests.
Software
Contribute code modules, visualization, documentation, accessibility, privacy, or security improvements.
Patient partnership
Translate priorities into questions, review burden and outcome relevance, and improve plain-language communication.
Translation
After approval, support patent landscapes, validation plans, technical diligence, partner evidence packets, or founder plans.
Progressive access
Open participation does not mean open patient data.
Work normally begins with public, synthetic, non-sensitive, or aggregate information. Controlled access is project-specific, supervised, time-limited, and contingent on identity, skills, training, direct contracting, ethics/privacy review, and conflict/IP clearance.
No participant identities, contact information, direct recontact, or unrestricted downloads by default.
No shared credentials, unapproved local storage, public AI tools, or unapproved cloud services.
Every output receives scientific, privacy, confidentiality, provenance, and patent review before release.
Human-subjects work requires the appropriate IRB or other compliant ethics arrangement.
Share in outcomes
Supply the work. Participate when real portfolio value is created.
Eligible independent contributors can earn 2,250-10,000 outcome participation credits, with planning-value targets from $22,500 to $100,000. These are one system, not separate awards. Separately documented patent or licensing economics and a pathway to propose or join an approved spinout may also apply.
Pool participation uses eligible researcher credits divided by total eligible program credits—not a promised fixed percentage.
Credits are tied to accepted, reproducible, documented contribution and have no fixed cash value.
Patent economics require separate invention and proceeds documentation.
Spinout participation may include founder equity, options, consulting, employment, or other negotiated economics.
No result, payout, patent, company, equity value, or liquidity is guaranteed.
Check your obligations first.
Do not use this pathway to avoid an employer, university, sponsor, client, technology-transfer office, or IRB. When uncertain, disclose first; MDA may require a policy, waiver, outside-activity approval, or counsel review.