1. Would any of your project ideas raise safety issues in terms of: researcher safety, public safety, or environmental safety?
No, the materials used in our project are not hazardous and do not pose as a safety or health threat toward any of our team members, the public, or environment.
2. 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?
While one of our systems is a “toxin-anti-toxin” system, it occurs naturally in E. coli and does not effect other organisms in a toxic manner. Many researchers have used these toxins without further (For example, Ariel Erental of the Institute for Medical Research Israel-Canada) We are entering in new pairs of toxin anti-toxin pairs, but the parts registry already documents a pair of toxin-antitoxin from E. coli.
3. 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?
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