During the last several years, a series of important policy changes affecting genetic resource conservation, use, and exchange have entered into force. These policy changes will likely affect investment choices made by the international research-for-development community - choices that influence scientific collaboration and cooperation nationally, regionally and internationally. Specifically, these policy changes may introduce new institutional constraints on the use of genetic resources, with potentially long-lasting influence on research priority-setting and collaboration strategies. This paper provides a novel characterization of the changing landscape governing international germplasm exchanges. Emphasis is placed on culling evidence from historical trends, networks, and econometric analysis to better understand how national regulatory changes associated with the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) of 1993 and the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA) of 2004 affected the movement of genetic resources and lessons to be drawn to understand the potential effects of the Nagoya Protocol which entered into force beginning 2014. Acknowledgement : This paper was prepared with generous funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development and the CGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets. The authors thank Jennifer Long, M. Lisa Wilson, Eric Welch, Selim Louafi, Federica Fusi, and Fatima Zaidi for their insightful comments. This paper is dedicated to the memory of Eduardo Magalhaes, our colleague and friend. Any and all errors are the sole responsibility of the authors.