Team:Clemson/Safety

Safety

1. 1.Would any of your project ideas raise safety issues in terms of:


• Researcher safety:
  

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  All bacterial stains utilized in this project are Risk Group 1 microorganisms that are not know to cause illnesses. All students participating in this project have taken training in Chemical Hygiene and Laboratory Safety, Hazardous Waste management, Biological Safety, and Responsible Conduct of Research modules required by Clemson University before initiation of the work. In addition, they have also enrolled in the Collaborative Institutional Training initiative (CITI) program. They are required to pass the Recombinant DNA/Biosafety/NIH Guidelines, and the Responsible Conduct of Research modules. Students are required to wear appropriate Personal Protective Equipment when working.



• Public Safety:
  

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  The materials and reagents used also do not represent any safety or health risk to the general public. All students work under superposition at all time and access to the building/laboratory is restricted and controlled. No general public entrance is allowed. Hence, the possibility of accidents and malicious misuse of our experimental material by other individuals or groups is minimized.



• Environmental Safety:
  

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  The current experimental designs are proof-of-concept with no planed field test. Thus,they do not pose any risks to the general public or to the environment. All chemical/biological wastes are processed following the Clemson University Environmental Health and Safety Guidelines and pertinent federal guidelines.




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



• Clemson University have the following review boards overseeing campus research activities to ensure compliance with federal requirements: IRB - Institutional Review Board All research, teaching and testing activities involving human subjects must be reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board prior to initiation of the activities.

  
  

  All research, teaching and testing activities involving live vertebrate animals must be reviewed and approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee prior to initiation of the activities.

  
  

  Any research or testing activity that involves the use of potentially hazardous agents (biological, chemical or rDNA) or the construction or use of genetically engineered organisms requires review by the Institutional Biosafety Committee prior to initiation of the activities.

  
  

  Clemson University have the Environmental Health and Safety unit responsible for institutional developed guidelines. EHS is charged with overseeing the environmental compliance of all Clemson University activities.

  
  

  At present time, teaching activities that involve the use of hazardous agents (biological, chemical and recombinant DNA are not required to submit an IBC protocol prior to initiation of work (See FAQ #17). However, due to the nature the iGEM project, the Clemson team considers submitting an IBC protocol prior to initiation of work in future projects.

  
  


4. 4. Do you have any other ideas how to deal with safety issues that could be useful for future iGEM competitions? How could parts, devices and systems be made even safer through biosafety engineering?



• No.