While I was researching an article on opsins that are revolutionizing neuronal investigation, I came across a small blurb on the Boyden lab homepage with a link to addgene which said ” Request Boyden Lab plasmids through addgene”.
Addgene as its webpage states is a non-profit research support service dedicated to archiving and distributing plasmids that appear in published articles.The plasmids in addgenes database are classified on the basis of the Principal investigator deposting them and gene name. Also each plasmid has a lot of detailed information available making its use in other experiments quite easy.
It was very heartening that several leading labs had deposited their plasmids for academic use at this service. In the world of open science , services such as this are invaluable. I don’t know how long addgene has been around, but it will be quite something if the NIH made it mandatory to have all plasmids used in published work deposited at such a service.
While it is still a little involved to get plasmids from addgene, since it does involve some paperwork exchange, there is no denying the fact that a central managed repository such as addgene.org will ease the load for both end user and innovator labs as well as tech transfer offices.
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The Omics world 
I have also done some intense search with several plasmid constructs. When I came across Addgene it really sounded great to me. I think such services provided by non profit organisations is a boon to Scientific community.
Let them serve for long.