Team:IISER Bhopal/Safety

iGEM IISER Bhopal

Safety

General Lab Safety

Before commencing with our lab work, our team undertook steps to ensure adherence to all standard safety regulations.

We concluded the requisite safety level classification for our current project and work setting as biosafety level 1 (BSL-1). All our team members had past experience working in a lab with a similar or higher BSL rating and were familiar with the laboratory environment as well as the equipment used.

All the procedures which required BSL-1 were carried out within appropriate facilities within our department, and all mandated safety protocols were followed meticulously.

These include:


  • Decontamination of all work surfaces after the work is done.
  • Washing hands before and after doing wet lab work.
  • Prohibition of food and drink within the laboratory.
  • Allowing only mechanical pipetting.
  • Proper disposal of waste.
  • All the equipment must be decontaminated by autoclaving.
  • A sink and eyewash station should be readily available.

In addition, the whole team wore appropriate personal protective equipment, including lab coats, gloves, and eye protection whenever we worked in the lab. Also, the following was carried out:


  • It was ensured that there was no skin contact with harmful chemicals by strictly following the protocol when it came to dress code and protective equipment. The team made certain to disinfect and wash their hands before leaving the lab.
  • The team was shown how to operate the fire extinguishers, eye washers, and emergency showers.
  • The chemicals in the laboratory were stored using chemical-specific appropriate storage methods, and special care was taken while handling flammable and hazardous chemicals.

Additional Project Specific Safety Precautions:

  • We used ethidium bromide for staining DNA in agarose gel electrophoresis. Ethidium Bromide is a known mutagen and was handled while wearing gloves and masks.
  • Competent cells were stored by flash-freezing with liquid nitrogen. Liquid nitrogen was handled and stored in a well-ventilated area, and impact-resistant containers were used. Thermally insulated loose-fitting gloves and chemical splash goggles were worn to prevent damage to eyes, cold burn and frostbite.
  • NaOH pellets were used during the alkaline lysis. NaOH can cause burns and inflammation to the eyes. The reaction with water is highly exothermic and the container may get very hot. Protective gear like safety goggles and gloves were worn while handling NaOH.
  • The chassis organisms used - E. coli Rosetta and E. coli Dh5α - pose no risk, as they are non-pathogenic organisms. However, we have introduced the plasmid pUC18 with our gene of interest into the organism, which would result in it becoming resistant to Ampicillin. If this organism escapes the lab, it may transfer the Ampicillin resistance gene to other pathogenic strains of E. coli via conjugation. To prevent this, gloves were changed before and after removing samples from the bio-safety cabinet, in order to minimize possible contamination of lab surfaces and equipment. Hands were washed thoroughly before leaving the lab, and all surfaces were decontaminated, and any media/agar plates containing the bacterium were autoclaved before discarding.