Difference between revisions of "Team:OUC-China/Safety"

SAFE PROJECT DESIGN

Being responsible for our earth and ourselves is our attitude towards every experiment. In our project, all the parts we have utilized are selected from Risk Group 1, none of which are with a Red Flag. What’s more, nonpathogenic bacteria, E.coli.K12 is employed as the main chassis for our prior design on the DNA sequence, stem-loop. As a matter of fact, when using stem-loops to tune the expression of genes, it is harmless for the growth of bacteria and relatively safe for industrialized applications. For the sake of environments, all the chassis organisms will be sterilized before being abandoned to prevent the genes from leaking.

SAFE LAB WORK

We works at a neat lab named “Lab for Microinnovation and Enterprise”, which is a BSL-2 laboratory. Before working in the lab, we are supposed to be trained by the skillful hands, not only for the general lab safety rules, but also for the standard experimental operation avoiding unnecessary damage.

No experiment carries no risk to the experimenters, hence we are properly equipped with facilities, such as latex gloves, nitrile gloves，goggles, lab coats to protect us from biotic and abiotic hazards.

Figure 1 Our personal safety precautions

Then for lab safety, a routine inspection is performed twice a day by everyone, not only for ensuring normal operation of our lab like supplying experimental consumables and inspecting the running of instruments, but also keeps it away from non-biological hazards, especially the water and electricity. For high efficiency, responsibility implements to every team member.

Figure 2 Table for routine inspection

Furthermore, several operational zones are divided scientifically for special experiments like RNA electrophoresis and RT-PCR. And a molecular operation area, an ethidium bromide area and a polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis area are set for difficult operations

Figure 3 RNA operation area

Figure 4 UV transilluminator

For us, lab safety is a hot topic and we have come up with a practical lab safety manual which normalizes our lovely lab.

Figure 5 Panorama of our lab

SAFE SHIPMENT

For submitting our parts to igem HQ, we first took the initiative to consult Chinese entry-exit inspection and quarantine laws and regulations about shipping DNA from China to the USA, which is forbidden without tedious red tape. Fortunately, GenScript cooperated with igem HQ forward our part sample to the USA. Ergo, we sealed dried DNA and sent it in the submission kit to GenScript, which clearly labelled as DNA without disguise. Our kit poses no risks and is perfectly safe for shipment.