Team:BEAS China/Safety
Safety Overview
In a biology laboratory, there are always things that might cause certain dangers to the researchers, the population nearby, as well as the environment. In order to prevent some risks and safety problems that may occur in every project in the laboratory, our team took a variety of measures since the beginning of the project.
For unabridged list about team BEAS_China's safety features, please visit our safety form.
Safe Project Design
In order to minimize the damage that NEZHA causes on the ecosystem through Horizontal Gene Transfer, we have utilized a bio-containment system based on non-canonical amino acid (ncAA).
The system consists of the genes for a toxin (Doc) and its antitoxin (Phd). The toxin is consistently being produced, yet the antitoxin can only be synthesized when ncAAs are present. ncAAs are not present in the nature, and can only be added artificially by the user of NEZHA. During a leakage, due to the lack of ncAA, the bacteria that escape will not be able to survive because of their inability to produce the antitoxin. Thus, this feature greatly prevents environmental damage potentially caused by the leakage of NEZHA.
For more information on our utilization of ncAA, please visit our Project Design page and Demonstrate page.
Safe Organism
In our experiments, we used and only used e. Coli DH5alpha, E.coli BL21(DE3), and E.coli C321, which means that all the microorganisms used in our lab are in the first group of risks. Those E.coli can't live outside the lab. In addition, we separate our organisms from other organisms in the lab that are used by others. There are no viruses or other potentially dangerous cells in our lab. Our lab falls into the first category of risk.
Lab Safety Rules
Before starting work, we received safety training from Fankang Meng, who was a researcher in synthetic biology, and Xinyu Liu, who is a researcher in genetic biology, about basic laboratory operating guidelines, and the biosafety of our project. Students who work in the lab always wear pants, closed shoes, lab coats, gloves and, if necessary, goggles. Work is performed on clean benches and, if necessary, on fume hoods. The experimental area and the office area are completely separated. Any supplies in the office area are strictly forbidden to enter the laboratory, and any experimental equipment in the laboratory is prohibited to enter the office area. When we do experiments, we follow the protocol strictly and are supervised by the lab manager.