Team:Warsaw/Safety

Laboratory strains of E. coli and B. subtilis are not pathogenic, thus not hazardous. Bacillus strain carrying a plasmid with listeriolysin might be hazardous, so great care must be taken. But even if one does become infected, this bacteria are unable of replicating and surviving long inside mammalian cells. They are also incapable of spreading from cell to cell, meaning that infection could not spread.
None of our project's ideas can cause public safety hazard. We are not going to transform our multihost eucaryotic vector into invasive Bacillus strain, to ensure, that no danger is caused. Listeriolysin might raise some issues, that is why we adopted rigorous safety protocols concerning disposal of biological waste, to prevent any GMO organism from spreading into environment.
None of the Biobricks that we use this year may cause environmental hazard. Plasmids containing genes coding resistance for antibiotics such as Ampicilin, chloramfenicol and kanamicin might be hazardous if released into environment, enlarging population of a-b resistant bacteria. To ensure that this does not happen we adopted safety protocols, as mentioned above.
Work in a microbiology laboratory environment:
In the lab there is work with GMO, E. coli and B.subtilis bacteria strains. Researchers have to wear lab coats and gloves.
Work with toxic chemical compounds:
Ethidium Bromide can cause cancer - is used only to visualize gels It is not added to agarose gels before running the gel.
Antibiotics: Chloramphenicol and Ampicillin:
While making antibiotics solutions from the powder the mask and safety glasses have to be worn.
Work with UV light:
UV light is a cause of cancer therefore a UV protective mask, gloves and lab coats have to be worn while working with the UV light.