Safety Questions

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

Researcher safety

    The majority of our research is conducted with E. coli bacteria. E. coli is a Gram-negative, rod shaped bacterium that is commonly found in the lower intestine of mammals. It is one of the most widely studied prokaryotes, and is used by scientists all over the world as a host organism when working with recombinant DNA, as well as for protein expression.

    The E. coli strains commonly used in the lab, such as DH5α and BL-21 bacteria have been specifically engineered to be grown in a carefully regulated environment that only a laboratory can provide. Due to their sensitivity, they are unable to survive in the human body for an extended period of time. Consequently, the major risk of working with E. coli in the lab is not illness or infection, but rather contamination of other experiments such as eukaryotic cell culture. However, although the risk is deemed acceptable in labs, there is a strict autoclaving policy for all waste fluids, plates, and other waste produced when working with bacteria to mitigate risk to the general public if released by accident. Disposable items, such as tips, agar plates, and spreaders are incinerated, while glassware and other non-disposable equipment is autoclaved or cleaned with 70% isopropanol. Live cultures are treated with bleach using guidelines put forth by The Office of Environmental Health & Radiation Safety (EHRS). Furthermore, all sinks that are used to dispose of liquid waste are treated as potentially hazardous biological waste and are sterilized accordingly by the university. Additionally, these bacteria pose little risk to the environment. These strains of bacteria require conditions that would be unlikely to be found outside of the laboratory.

    The greatest risk E. coli poses to the health and safety of the general public is through intentional, malicious use of the bacteria. While this is always a possibility with any project, our project does present a slightly increased risk due to our use of antibiotic resistance genes as selection factors. This may increase the pathogenicity of the bacteria, but through our strict regulation of the use of these bacteria and stringent disposal guidelines, we believe we have adequately addressed this issue. Furthermore, access to our lab is strictly regulated, and it is extremely difficult for unauthorized individuals to access areas where E. coli is being stored or grown.