From 2012.igem.org

Revision as of 13:56, 23 August 2012

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

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

When designing the experiments the NRPUEA team would undertake we had to consider not only the safety of the researchers and others within the lab, but also the public and the environment.We had to consider carefully the organisms and chemicals we would be using within lab, how we would handle these safely and then dispose of them after to minimize effect on environment and public.

Researcher safety

The university has safety standards which have to be met, which included having basic safety training before starting wet lab work, as well as reading and signing COSH forms.Therefore, when designing experiments we checked whether the COSH forms signed covered the procedures undertaken. Within this training we learnt what to do in emergencies, where we could access the safety booklet which is always within the lab, as well as being shown where to dispose of the different chemicals and used equipment. It is also vital that researchers within the university ware PPE, including lab coat, gloves and covered shoes. The team enjoyed their lunch well away from the lab, as well as being careful to wash their hands before eating and leaving.

The organism used as a chassis, within NRPUEA iGEM teams experiments, was E.coli ( NEB 5-alpha E.coli was use to characterise existing biobricks, as well as BL21 pLysS cells and Alpha select gold E.coli. E.coli is a well-studied type of bacteria and therefore has a fairly predictable behaviour as well understood pathways. This reduces the risks of danger to the team.

public safety

environmental safety

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

did you document these issues in the Registry? how did you manage to handle the safety issue? How could other teams learn from your experience?

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

If yes, what does your local biosafety group think about your project? If no, which specific biosafety rules or guidelines do you have to consider in your country?

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?