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