Team:XMU-China/safety

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SAFETY

Researcher, Public and Environmental Safety
The genetic materials used in our project pose no safety or health concerns to members in the laboratory. There were certain chemicals and solvents we used in laboratory that are known to be toxic such as ethidium bromide, but all were treated with proper caution and care. We strictly followed the BSL-1 requirements. All biological wastes and equipments that have physical contacts with biological samples were bleached that was optional and autoclaved before disposal and reuse. If released by accident, our parts and materials would do some negative damage to the general public. Our BioBrick parts or devices might raise the resistance of Escherichia coli to certain antibiotics. As we were not conducting large-scale proliferation of microorganisms, the leakage of the bacteria cultured for testing experiments would not have significant impact on the general safety of the environment. However, we strictly followed the BSL-1 requirements as mentioned above and avoided any release of the BioBrick parts or devices or microorganisms to the environment.

The environment was also in no danger from such a hypothetical release for reasons stated previously. Also, model organisms used in our project included Escherichia coli BL21 and DH5α. They are non-virulent strains which are commonly used in microbiology laboratories.

Besides, there would be no risks to security through malicious misuse by individuals, groups or states. Any malicious misuse of BioBrick parts or devices or microorganisms might have great threat to security. To avoid these potential hazards, we have carefully handled our experiments, stored our materials and products. Human error and poor technique could compromise the best of safeguards to protect the researcher and cause unpredicted risks to both human and environment. For this reason, we have conducted a continuous training in safety measures for all 2012 XMU-China team members and other laboratory workers in our laboratory.

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Biosafety Standards and Institutions
Xiamen University has its own biosafety rules that are regulated by the Ministry of Environment Protection, P.R. China and our institution. We carried out our experiments and evaluated bio-safety issues in our iGEM project strictly according to the Chinese Pathogenic Microbiology Laboratory Bio-safety Regulations, 2004, P.R. China.

Link to the Nation Biosafety Office:
National Biosafety Office [1]

Link to the regulations:
Biosafety regulation on pathogenic microbes [2]

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Biosafety Training
Every member of our laboratory received biosafety training before the project began. It included general laboratory safety, biosafety and hazardous and chemical spill training. These training sessions were put on by the code of practice and the local guidelines, and including the safety and operations manual as well. Furthermore, every member of the iGEM team was trained by our iGEM graduate student instructors on proper laboratory techniques and safety procedures.

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Future Safety and Security Suggestions
Since there was a Potential Risk that if released by accident, our parts and materials would do some negative damage to the general public. Our BioBrick parts or devices might raise the resistance of Escherichia coli to certain antibiotics. We suppose that we could design a mechanism into bacterium or add a device which can dissolve the released reagents.

In addition, we believe that collecting the safety concerns and information into a biosafety criterion book and making it become one of the criteria would improve adherence to biosafety regulations.

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References
[1]U.S Department of Health and Human Services, Biosafety in Microbiological and Biomedical Laboratories, Fifth Edition, US Government Printing Office, 2007

[2]World Health Organization, Laboratory Biosafety Manual, Third Edition, 2004