Difference between revisions of "Team:UofC Calgary/Safety"

Safety Considerations in the Lab

How we prepared for lab work

All Principal Investigators, mentors, and undergraduate researchers were required to complete lab safety training and complete safety courses developed by Environment Health and Safety (EHS) prior to working in the lab. The mandatory safety training courses included updated versions of the WHMIS course, an occupational health and safety course, a laboratory safety course, a hazard assessment course, an incident reporting and investigation course, a spill response course, a biosafety program course, a biosafety laboratory course, and a biosafety bloodborne pathogens course. The courses cover biological containment protocols, handling of hazardous materials such as liquid nitrogen, and disposal of waste, as well as standard safety and laboratory practices. All were required to take a test following each course, which certifies safe lab work under EHS Guidelines. All team members, advisors, and mentors received credit for each listed course and training program, and supervisors were present in the lab at all times to oversee undergraduate work.

The University of Calgary has a university-wide Biosafety Committee, whose guidelines for safe biological laboratory practices were adhered to throughout the project. The team’s lab benches and experimental plans were assessed and deemed safe to proceed with by the Biosafety Committee. The Environment Health and Safety (EHS) provided additional training for individuals working with radiation and irradiated cells.

Our project utilized Bacillus subtilis and a commonly used lab-strain of Escherichia coli, TOP10. Both are non-pathogenic and non-infectious, and are classified as Biosafety Level 1 organisms (BSL-1). These organisms, therefore, posed no significant risk to researchers. Since these BSL1 cells (E.coli and B.subtilis) have GRAS labelling, our main project did not require ethics approval by the review boards. Some team members worked with HCT116 cell lines and 1BR3 cell lines, which are human colon carcinoma and human skin fibroblast cell lines that are classified as Biosafety Level 2(BSL-2).The cell lines were received from completely anonymous donors. We handled these cell lines at containment level 2 in accordance with the Bloodborne Pathogens Standard and Biosafety Committee guidelines.

Safety Considerations for the Device

Structure of the Patch

Choosing Patch Materials

Considering Human Use

Containment

Future Considerations for Patch Design

If we can determine a better membrane that prevents the diffusion of the bacteria, we can use a two layer semi permeable system where the first layer prevents the diffusion of the bacteria and a second layer which further filters BBI for diffusion.

Safe disposal:

Safety considerations of Biobrick parts

Future Considerations

We would engineer inducible kill switches that could eradicate the bacteria if need be. A kill switch in Bacillus would be designed as engineering a kill switch into standardized plasmids could be useful for future iGEM competitions. Additionally, integrating BBI in multiple sites would give more auxotrophic sites, increasing the safety of using B.subtilis in the device.

Safety forms: