Difference between revisions of "Team:Georgia State/Safety"

Safety and Training in the Lab

Georgia State University iGEM team works in a Biosafety Level 1 (BSL-1) laboratory. Although there are no known pathogenic risks in BSL-1 laboratories, the following precautions were still taken: wearing gloves at all times, handwashing before exiting the lab, forbidding food/drinks within the lab, tightly regulating access to the lab, and inactivating infectious material via autoclaving and hyperchloric acid (bleach).

Prior to entering the lab, everyone had to undergo safety training and tests, which include: Right-to-Know training, Right-to-Know Chemical Specific training, and Hazardous Waste Generator training. We learned about lab access and rules (including appropriate clothing) biosafety equipment (such as biosafety cabinets), disinfection/sterilization, emergency procedures, and chemicals, fire & electrical safety.

Ethical risks

Escherichia Coli DH5a competent cells do not pose a risk to human health; they are classified as a Risk Group 1 and are non-pathogenic. Agrobacterium tumefaciens can cause crown gall disease in plants if exposed. Symbiodinium microadriaticum is known to form algal blooms. However, neither S. microadriaticum nor O. Marina can survive the transportation from lab to sea without the aid of humans.

We will not release our modified algal-coral symbiont into the wild during this stage of the research. Nevertheless, if this were to hypothetically happen, we’re not introducing any genes that will translate into foreign protein products. The genes of interest involve fluorescent proteins, heat shock proteins, and antioxidants. These are all products of a normal Symbiodinium, and we’d only be upregulating their production. The implications of this should be analogous to simply growing up a large number of algae without the repercussion of an algal bloom. Because of this, we wouldn’t expect to harm the environment in any way.