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From 2012.igem.org

Safety

1. Would any of your project ideas raise safety issues in terms of researcher, environmental, and public safety?

Researcher safety: In its current state, the construct does not pose a threat or raise safety issues for the researchers working on it. All work with E. coli was conducted using standard laboratory protocol and organic waste was disposed of in common biohazard procedure. DH5-alpha E. coli cells were used for all transformations (both chemically competent and electrically competent).

Public safety: No modifications were made to the E. coli that would alter its pathogenicity to humans. DH5-alpha cells were used, which pose no risk of disease that could be spread to the public. The idea of the eventual use as a probiotic would need to be strictly tested in a controlled manner in the future if the construct proved to be effective. For the IGEM project, the construct was solely a proof of concept.

Environmental safety: Similarly to public safety, if the construct was to be tested in plants, it would need to be done in a safe manner under experimental conditions. Considering the scope of this project, the construct was not transformed into any form of plant cell, as that would require much more advanced safety procedures and a longer time frame.

2. Do any of the new BioBrick parts (or devices) that you made this year raise any safety issues?

No. The parts produced by our group do not raise any safety issues.

3. Is there a local biosafety group, committee, or review board at your institution?

The CU-Boulder iGEM team complied with standard Institutional Biosafety Commitee requirements. This includes but is not limited to proper decontamination procedures, sharps disposed of properly, gloves worn, working with approved agents and protocols, waste properly decontaminated, disposed, packaged, labeled, no eating, drinking, contact lenses or food storage in the lab. More details about the Institutional Biosafety Committee safety standards can be found here




Use this page to answer the questions on the safety page .

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