Safety

Lay emphasis on implementation

Safety
Management
Project Design
Lab Work
Shipment

Everyone in College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering in Xiamen University knows a seemingly bizarre equation "S=C3H3" which was put forward by Prof. Jiaxi Lu. The equation means a scientist(S) needs three qualities: Clear Head, Clever Hand and Clean Habit. All of us keep this equation in mind.

Safety Management

All members have taken the laboratory safety operation course taught by departments, in which we learned a lot of standards, such as wearing rules, the ban of eating or drinking, proper position of reagents and usage of dangerous chemicals. Before entering the laboratory, we read through the official safety guidelines proposed by the iGEM HQ online and the safety manuals written by university office carefully. Tutors and senior students carried out safety education especially clarifying the location and usage of fire-fighting equipment. Safe use of fire, electric heaters, microwave oven and the UV lamp was emphasized. There are also laboratory assistants supervising the safety of the laboratory. Any insecure behaviours will be warned or criticised.

Safe Project Design

Firstly, E. coli BL21 and E. coli DH5α were the only chassis when we performed the molecular cloning and expression. Halomonas sp. JC-5B which is a marine bacterium was used for DNA extraction and all the plasmids are harmless for humans. In terms of parts, none of our parts would raise any safety issue according to the current expertise. What is more, the engineering bacteria have a suicide system. The expression of the lysis protein leads to the death of the engineering bacteria, which prevents damage to the environment and the creatures. In addition, M13 bateriaphage used in the siRNA delivery system infecting E.coli only and is temperate phage. Phage experiments were performed in a special room and a biosafety cabinet. Last but not least, all experiments were performed in vitro.

Safe Lab Work

Laboratory coat and gloves are necessary when entering the laboratory. All culture fluid and culture medium with bacteria were processed properly to prevent the potential biological pollution. We handled all the biological materials, wastes and equipments strictly following the BSL-1 requirements. Biological materials were not allowed to be taken outside the laboratory.