Team:HZAU-China/Safety
index
. Introduction:
This year, our team recognizes the importance of safety and security to researchers and the environment. Safety not only protect people to avoid any harms but also prevent pathogens and toxins accidentally release. We will describe our team's work for safety from In Compliance With iGEM's Safety Rules, In Compliance With iGEM's Safety Policies, lab safety, safety education, safety by design five aspects.
o In Compliance With iGEM's Safety Rules
We were successfully submitted the Safety and Security form before deadline, no parts were used besides the White List, nor animal used in our project. Our PI signed off for our Safety and Security form. (In compliance with Safety Rules 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.) Our team followed all relevant laws or rules during the whole project. (In compliance with Safety Rules 6.)
Our lab is a BSL 1 lab, all organisms (E. coli K12 MG1655 and E. coli DH5α) we used were from Risk Group 1, parts were from Risk Group 1 and 2. All parts gained from the distribution kit, by synthesis or brought from other teams. No Risk Group 3 or 4 organisms, parts from a Risk Group 4 organism were used. (In compliance with Safety Rules 7, 8.) No samples submitting were required in iGEM2019. (In compliance with Safety Rules 9.)
As a part of our lab rules, no project samples allowed to be taken out of the laboratory. Trash was disposed through Safety Disposal Can. All organisms we used will be sterilized before disposing. (In compliance with Safety Rules 10.)
For more details about Safety, please see our demonstrate below.
o In Compliance With iGEM's Safety Policies
"Do not release policy" is a part of our lab rules, as for the "Anti-microbial resistance policy", we haven't use any part containing sequences connected resistance to anti-microbials on WHO's list. Gene deleted bacteria we used is from our collaboration team, which is a strain of auxotroph E.coli. No gene drives were used in our project. No animal experiments were done in our project, of course no human experimentations were implemented or planned in our project.
Organized human subject researches of human practice were separated into survey, interviews, teach-ins and teaching activities. All items were pre-approved by review boards of our school and were under good guidance of our PI and instructor. In detail, our survey is about ranks of public bearable to bacteria existence, interview is about smells of beloveds, teach-ins and teaching activities are about popularization of biology to teenagers and iGEM advertisement, which all of these barely involved ethics. For the protection of the public, we referred to the "Guidelines on Ethical Review of Biomedical Research Involving Human Subjects (NHFPC, 2016)" and the "International Guidelines on Market Views, Social Surveys and Data Analysis (ICC/ESOMAR, 2016)" before designing the questionnaire.
For more details, please see our demonstrate below and our Human Practice.
o Lab safety:
Our lab follows the current legislation about BSL1 and locates in the college building of Life Science and Technology, Huazhong Agricultural University. We have an access control system, which only allows authorized students to enter. The biological wastes in our lab are managed by trained stuff to ensure it will not harm the environment. There are some pictures about our lab (Figure A-E).
o Safety education:
Prof. Yingchun Qi is responsible for the safety and security of our lab. She has been working as the safety and security officer in Huazhong Agriculture University for decades, and she also gives lectures about biological experiments in university. She has organized a training for everyone include the following aspects (Figure E):
1. Lab coat and gloves must be worn all the time during work.
2. Personnel must wash their hands after experiments, or before they leave the laboratory working areas.
3. Open-toed footwear must not be worn in laboratories.
4. Eating, drinking, smoking, applying cosmetics, handling contact lenses and sleeping are prohibited in the laboratory working areas.
5. Students must learn how to use dry powder extinguishers and carbon dioxide fire extinguishers in our lab.
6. No biological materials are allowed to be brought out of our lab. Strains must be put into death before dumping.
o Safety by design:
We have finished and submitted the safety form, which including the detailed information about our project. What whole organisms we used in our project is E. coli K12 MG1655 and E. coli DH5α, which only make people diarrhea. The parts we are interested in are synthesized by a provider or provided by other teams or from the distribution kit. The specific and accurate information of parts is submitted in a spreadsheet.
