Team:Fudan/Safety
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Safety
Safety in Lab
Rules and Regulations
Our school has a series of rules and regulations on laboratory safety. Everyone working in the laboratory must follow the rules. Our iGEM team is no exception.
Fig. 1 Regulations on Laboratory Safety Management of School of Life Sciences, Fudan University.
The regulations make the safety system and responsibilities clear. "Safety first, prevention first" is our principle of laboratory safety. We insist that "Who is in charge, who is responsible", "Who uses, who is responsible". We have a three-level safety management system in the university, that is, the school, departments and laboratories are all responsible for safety issues.
The rules also clarify the laboratory safety training system, basic safety requirements, management of hazardous chemicals and laboratory wastes, radiation safety, biosafety, safety of special equipment, accident handling and responsibility investigation, etc.
Training
Before performing experiments in our laboratory, we were all required to take an online course that trained us in general lab safety, biosafety, special equipment safety. After that we all needed to pass the laboratory safety knowledge test, where we were required to know how to use experimental apparatus properly and how to deal with potential dangers as well as sudden accidents in labs.
Safe Environment
We did experiments at Xiaoming Ding’s Lab in School of Life Sciences, Fudan University. Our secondary PI Xiaoming Ding is responsible for the safety and security of the lab. He is a specialist in microbiology and provided us with systematic safety guidelines.
Fig. 2 The Experiment Bench of Our Laboratory.
The experimental bench is separate from the rest area in our lab, so we can keep our books, computers and other stuff without being contaminated.
Fig. 3 The Rest Area of Our Laboratory.
We have fire extinguishers, fire hydrant and emergency spray to deal with different unexpected situations in our lab.
Fig.4-5 Safety Equipment (Emergency spray/ Fire Extinguisher and Hydrant).
Safe Operations
We must wear lab coats and gloves when conducting experiments in lab. Open-toe shoes and short pants are banned.
Fig.6 Safety Slogans in Our Laboratory.
We conducted our experiments under the supervision of instructors, who were in the same lab with us. We would check with them at first if we were not sure about what potential risks may have when conducting an experiment.
There was a high-handed sterilization pan which may cause accidents if not operated properly. Therefore, every time we wanted to sterilize, we needed to let Mr. Liang, one of our supervisors operate, a graduate student in microbiology department with Special Equipment Certificate.
Fig.7 Mr. Liang with Special Equipment Certificate.
We used 2-mercaptoethanol and Ethidium Bromide which may cause environmental contamination and poisoning if not properly dealt with before emitting. However, we changed to use DTT instead of 2-Mercaptoethanol when preparing Z-buffer for miller measurement, because DTT was much less potential biohazardous than 2-Mercaptoethanol and performed equally in reducing capacity. And every time we used EB, we would wear double layer resin gloves to protect ourselves. The two kinds of gloves in the contaminated and uncontaminated areas could not be mixed.
After experiments, we treated wastes according to the Measures for the Safety Management of Laboratory Waste of Fudan University.
Fig. 8 Measures for the Safety Management of Laboratory Waste of Fudan University (Excerpts).
Fig. 9 Different Waste into Different Bins.
The last person to leave the lab always made sure that water, electricity, gas, and the air conditioner were shut down, and doors and windows had been locked before leaving.
Fig. 10 ‘Doors and Windows Closed, Water and Electricity Off Before Leaving the Lab.’
We are pleased to invite you to have a look at our detailed iGEM safety form which shows our commitment to safety. Click to see our Safety Form.
Safety in Project
Chassis
E.coli Nissle 1917 was the main chassis we used to take effect, which was considered as probiotics so it was rather safe. And E.coli DH10B, which we used to carry out molecular cloning (including transferring acid-resistance and antibacterial peptide into it) can hardly survive in the natural environment.
We strictly abided by the Interim Measures for laboratory safety management and Measures for the safety management of laboratory waste of Fudan University. Once the strains were no longer needed, they would be autoclaved and discarded immediately.
Parts
Most of the parts in our project are commonly used expression-controlling units, and they are widely used by researchers all over the world, so they will not cause any safety problems.
Antimicrobial Peptides1, 2
Studies have shown that antimicrobial peptides are not antigens for the human body, and generally only have an effect on pathogenic bacteria, so as not to cause intestinal flora disorder. In addition, our quorum-sensing components will shut down the expression of antimicrobial peptides and activate the suicide mechanism when the bacteria propagate to a certain amount so that the scale of our engineering bacteria will not reach a high density.
Temperature Controlled Project
To ensure Nissle won't grow in the environment when it has leaked into the environment through excreta, we collaborated with team UCAS. Their project focused on a killer system that can kill E. coli after it leaves human body. Click to see our Collaboration.
Safety in Human Practice
According to our survey, lots of parents had concerns that GMOs might cause unpredictable damages. So, we decided to decrease these concerns by focusing on ensuring our product's safety. We found one of the members of China Biosafety Committee, Baorong Lu, for advice. Click to see our Human Practices.
According to Prof. Lu, China has not yet passed any genetically modified drugs (nor has the US). This is mainly because it has to take years before a drug is approved and these drugs are a cutting-edge technology. So, it does not mean that genetically modified drugs are more difficult to be approved than other drugs. On the contrary, unlike genetically modified foods, genetically modified drugs for specific diseases are irreplaceable and therefore easier to obtain approval.
Since we decided to transfer the acid-resistance antimicrobial peptide to Nissle, Prof. Lu also said that it was acceptable as long as we only increased its viability under human intestinal pressure, rather than in the environment.
Safety in Shipment
We have submitted our parts to iGEM Headquarters successfully, legally and safely. As the parts registry requires, all of our parts are kept in PCR tubes & 96-well plates. Our parts are not in the select agents and toxins list. There are only plasmids with no liquid, no organism in the package.
Reference
[1] Destoumieux-Garzón, Delphine, Duquesne, S. , Peduzzi, J. , & Rebuffat, S..(2007). Microcins, gene-encoded antibacterial peptides from enterobacteria. Natural Product Reports, 24(4), 708-0.
[2] Frederic Collin, Anthony Maxwell. (2019). The Microbial Toxin Microcin B17: Prospects for the Development of New Antibacterial Agents. Journal of Molecular Biology, 431(18), 3400-3426.