Team:Groningen/Safety

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<z1 >General safety page</z1><br>
 
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Safety is a major concern of the iGEM organization, therefore the iGEM organization asks of every team to answer certain questions about the safety aspect of their iGEM project, safety in the lab, the environment and the public. Team Groningen tried to answer these question with the best of their ability. Most of our team members have lab working experience and are aware of the safety regulations of working in a lab. We decided to add an extra food safety page to our wiki, because it is essential to our project.<br><br>
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For a better understanding on biosafety and the rules and regulation on GMOs and microbiology in general, we invited Dr. J.S. Lolkema and Prof. Dr. ir.  J.D. van Elsas to give us lectures and to assist us considering the need of safety during our iGEM project.  
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We divided our safety page into four different sections. On the first page we focus on <A HREF="https://2012.igem.org/Team:Groningen/10com" TARGET="_blank"><FONT COLOR=#ff6700><b>safety in the lab</b></FONT></A>, we  address the rule regulation of lab work at the Rijksuniversiteit of Groningen (RUG),  but also about researcher safety and all things concerning the lab such as: the biobricks, microorganisms and the biosafety group.  
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On public safety page<A HREF="https://2012.igem.org/Team:Groningen/publicsafety" TARGET="_blank"><FONT COLOR=#ff6700><b>public safety page</b></FONT></A> we say something about safety of our sticker design and the public perception of the Food Warden system.
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On the <A HREF="https://2012.igem.org/Team:Groningen/environment" TARGET="_blank"><FONT COLOR=#ff6700><b>environmental safety page</b></FONT></A> we discus in length the risk and hazards of the our genetic modification. Furthermore we address the effect on environment and our thoughts about a system to kill the Food Warden bacterium after use.
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On our last safety page we discuss <A HREF="https://2012.igem.org/Team:Groningen/foodsafety" TARGET="_blank"><FONT COLOR=#ff6700><b>food safety</b></FONT></A>. How to define rotten meat and the importance of prevention of eating spoiled meat.  
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One of the safety question we had deficulty placing on our safety page. 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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We thought it would be best to Find an alternative system for the antibiotic resistance markers used nowadays (in the BioBricks). This could be a pigment instead of cloning bacteria with antibiotic resistance. By horizontal gene transfer these resistance genes can be passed to other bacterial species.  
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When using proper lab techniques, safety measures and ofcourse common sense a lot of possible dangerous situations can be avoided. Due to human errors sometimes these measures or techniques are not uphold. Probably like us every iGEM team has its own lab in the university. There for a random safety inspection by the iGEM organization. However since labs are all over the world not one person can do that, but every iGEM team has supervisors that would also eventual be a judge at the jamboree. The judge form one university could the inspection according the standard  checklist from the organization for a noughboring university hosting a iGEM team. Or the national microbiobial safety committee could preform the inspection for the team in that country.
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<div class="ctd">
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<z1 >General Safety</z1>
 +
</div>
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</div>
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<br>
 +
<br>
 +
<p>
 +
With the emergence of the field of Synthetic Biology, certain ethical questions must be considered.
 +
The debate on the safety and ethics of synthetic biology is still ongoing, and it is therefore no surprise
 +
that every iGEM team is obliged to consider these issues. The iGEM organization asks questions about the safety  
 +
aspect of a team's project, pertaining to the safety in the lab, the environment, and the public. We tried to  
 +
answer these questions to the best of our ability. Most of our team members have lab experience and are aware  
 +
of the safety regulations pertaining to working in a lab with GMOs, but we decided to explore the safety issue
 +
more in depth. In order to do so, we invited two authorities to give lectures and to assist in considering the
 +
need of safety during our iGEM project: Dr. J.S. Lolkema, biological safety officer at the Rijksuniversiteit of
 +
Groningen (RUG), as well as Prof. Dr. ir.  J.D. van Elsas, member of the Netherlands Commission on Genetic Modification.
 +
<br>
 +
<br>
 +
We divided our safety page into four different sections. On the first page we focus on  
 +
<a class="inlink" href="https://2012.igem.org/Team:Groningen/10com">safety in the lab</a>,  
 +
we  address the rules and regulations of lab work at the RUG pertaining to researcher safety and all things concerning  
 +
the lab such as: the biobricks, microorganisms and the biosafety group.  
 +
<br>
 +
<br>
 +
On the  <a class="inlink" href="https://2012.igem.org/Team:Groningen/publicsafety">public safety page</a>  
 +
we explore the safety of our sticker design and the public perception of the Food Warden system.
 +
<br>
 +
<br>
 +
On the <a class="inlink" href="https://2012.igem.org/Team:Groningen/environment">environmental safety page</a>  
 +
we elaborate on the risk and hazards of the our genetic modification. Furthermore we address possible effects
 +
on the environment and share our thoughts on developing a system to kill the Food Warden bacterium if it were
 +
to be released into the environment or after use.
 +
<br>
 +
<br>  
 +
On our last safety page we discuss <a class="inlink" href="https://2012.igem.org/Team:Groningen/foodsafety">food safety</a>.
 +
We answer questions like: "How does one define rotten meat?" and show the importance of prevention of eating spoiled meat.  
 +
<br>
 +
<br>
 +
<br>
 +
There is one question from the iGEM headquarters which was hard to put into one of our safety sections, which we would like to address here.
 +
<br>
 +
<br>
 +
<z5>"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?"</z5>
 +
<br>
 +
<br>
 +
We think it is important to find an alternative system for the antibiotic resistance markers used nowadays in the
 +
BioBrick system. Such a selection marker could be a harmless pigment, or other systems such as the widely used
 +
Red-White or LacZ screening methods. This takes away the risk of spreading antibiotic resistance by horizontal gene transfer.
 +
<br>
 +
<br>
 +
When using proper lab techniques, safety measures, and of course common sense, a lot of possibly dangerous situations  
 +
can be avoided. However, this is not always as straightforward as it seems. Every iGEM team that does wetwork has its  
 +
own lab in the university, just as we do. Therefore, a random safety inspection by the iGEM organization would ideally
 +
be a good way to check if everyone does meet the basic safety regulations. However, since iGEM is a huge competition,
 +
we understand it would be troublesome to send a delegation to travel all over the world to do this. Nonetheless it could
 +
be an option to send iGEM judges or supervisors to neighboring universities, or make it obligated that iGEM teams are
 +
visited by an official Safety Officer.
 +
<br>
 +
<br>
 +
<br>
 +
</p>
 +
</body>
</html>
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{{Template:SponsorsGroningen2012}}
{{Template:SponsorsGroningen2012}}

Latest revision as of 21:21, 26 September 2012





General Safety


With the emergence of the field of Synthetic Biology, certain ethical questions must be considered. The debate on the safety and ethics of synthetic biology is still ongoing, and it is therefore no surprise that every iGEM team is obliged to consider these issues. The iGEM organization asks questions about the safety aspect of a team's project, pertaining to the safety in the lab, the environment, and the public. We tried to answer these questions to the best of our ability. Most of our team members have lab experience and are aware of the safety regulations pertaining to working in a lab with GMOs, but we decided to explore the safety issue more in depth. In order to do so, we invited two authorities to give lectures and to assist in considering the need of safety during our iGEM project: Dr. J.S. Lolkema, biological safety officer at the Rijksuniversiteit of Groningen (RUG), as well as Prof. Dr. ir. J.D. van Elsas, member of the Netherlands Commission on Genetic Modification.

We divided our safety page into four different sections. On the first page we focus on safety in the lab, we address the rules and regulations of lab work at the RUG pertaining to researcher safety and all things concerning the lab such as: the biobricks, microorganisms and the biosafety group.

On the public safety page we explore the safety of our sticker design and the public perception of the Food Warden system.

On the environmental safety page we elaborate on the risk and hazards of the our genetic modification. Furthermore we address possible effects on the environment and share our thoughts on developing a system to kill the Food Warden bacterium if it were to be released into the environment or after use.

On our last safety page we discuss food safety. We answer questions like: "How does one define rotten meat?" and show the importance of prevention of eating spoiled meat.


There is one question from the iGEM headquarters which was hard to put into one of our safety sections, which we would like to address here.

"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?"

We think it is important to find an alternative system for the antibiotic resistance markers used nowadays in the BioBrick system. Such a selection marker could be a harmless pigment, or other systems such as the widely used Red-White or LacZ screening methods. This takes away the risk of spreading antibiotic resistance by horizontal gene transfer.

When using proper lab techniques, safety measures, and of course common sense, a lot of possibly dangerous situations can be avoided. However, this is not always as straightforward as it seems. Every iGEM team that does wetwork has its own lab in the university, just as we do. Therefore, a random safety inspection by the iGEM organization would ideally be a good way to check if everyone does meet the basic safety regulations. However, since iGEM is a huge competition, we understand it would be troublesome to send a delegation to travel all over the world to do this. Nonetheless it could be an option to send iGEM judges or supervisors to neighboring universities, or make it obligated that iGEM teams are visited by an official Safety Officer.


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