Safety
The iGEM official site has given very detailed guidelines and directions on how to safely proceed when doing biological experiments and behave when in a biological laboratories. Since our team members rarely had the opportunity to perform experiments of such level before, we all thoroughly read through the requirements listed carefully. We also underwent professional training conducted by credited teachers on safety precautions and laboratory skills before we started the sections in our project regarding labs. It helped us gain more understanding on various experimental methods and became more adept at performing associated procedures. We believe that these measures should guarantee the safety of our project.
Safety Goals
1. When designing the experiment, assess the risk of all reagents, microorganisms, and the substance they may produce, and design protective measures beforehand.
2. When experimenting, use standard lab safety techniques to reduce risk of physical or chemical danger.
3. Any substance or organism used should cause disease in any individual involved.
4. Any pathogen involved should not spread outside the laboratory nor infect the community.
5. The experiment should not contaminate the environment in any way.
6. Meet all iGEM’s safety and security rules along with all terms mentioned above.
Lab Protocols
1. There must be professional supervision during all parts of the experiment.
2. Standard precautions are to be followed at all times.
3. Laboratory coveralls are to be worn at all times when working in the laboratory.
4. Latex gloves are needed for experiments, and hands need to be washed with soap afterwards. After their hands are washed, they should not handle any equipment inside the laboratory.
5. Safety glasses and masks are to be worn when needed.
6. Open-toed footwear and food/drink are not permitted with the laboratory.
7. All barrier protection mentioned above is not to be worn outside the laboratory.
8. All supplies regarding the experiment, such as instruments, reagents, containers, are not to leave the laboratory.
9. Reports are to be made to the laboratory supervisor if spills, accidents and overt or potential exposure to infectious material happen.
10. Operations concerning gel-electrophoresis should be conducted in designated places.
11. Contaminated liquids should be treated before being discharged into the sanitary sewer, or disposed within special containers to avoid further contamination.
12. All personnel involved should be familiar with the inhalation and injection risks before performing experiments.
13. All personnel involved in performing the experiment must be familiar with the laboratory operating procedures and safety measures before they start the experiment.
14. All personnel involved must be familiar with the correct disposal and decontamination methods of infectious material.
15. All personnel involved must be familiar with the procedures in the event of spillage onto work surface or skin, or other accidents.
Facility Security
The laboratory in which we perform our experiment is within Huazhong Agricultural University. The university is located in the remote region of the city it resides, where there is low population density and very little traffic plots. We have access to biological safety cabinets and laminar flow cabinets to ensure the safety of our experiment. There are autoclaves available for decontamination. Fire extinguisher and eyewash devices are also available, along with other first aid supplies in case of emergency. All equipments used within the experiment are to university standard, and guided by professionals to ensure the safety of the experiment to those performing it and the community and environment around it.
Further Safety Consideration
Since we have decided to use E. coli, so there should be little risk of contamination after the experiments. All potentially contaminating reagents (chemical, physical, or biological) are disposed of properly, and would be treated with unified and professional procedures. As we move through the experiments, shipment security and potential further contamination has been considered and assessed to ensure that the final project would not be infectious or contaminate the environment even if it is released from the laboratory.
E. coli was originally cultured in the laboratory without risk of contamination of the environment. And the strain of E.coli we chose are classified as low risk. If they run out of the lab, they may cause environmental pollution such as water pollution. When E.coli finished work, we will sterilize the culture by reasonable ways like high temperature and high pressure, and then dispose the waste according to the requirements of relevant departments.