Safety

Lab Safety

All ASU team members were trained through EH&S courses in Lab Safety, Hazardous Waste Management, Fire Safety, Biological and Bloodborne Pathogens, Gas Cylinders, and Recombinant DNA. These course provided a comprehensive overview of lab safety. In addition, all lab members completed a "cloning bootcamp," in which basic cloning knowledge was assessed before moving on to other tasks. The details for the bootcamp can be found here .

The research in this lab was all completed under Standard Operating Procedures. This research was all with accordance with ASU's Biological Safety Manual, found here. The safety manual draws upon the NIH Guidelines for Research Involving Recombinant or Synthetic Nucleic Acid Molecules. The project was also presented to ASU's Institutional Biosafety Committee, where it was reviewed and...

The lab space in which wet-lab work was done was all classified as BSL1 with the exception of the tissue culture room, which was BSL2. The lab was located in the 2nd floor wet-lab at Arizona State University's ISTB4 building. Other work, such as mass spectrometry, was done at the Biodesign Institute at ASU.

Biosafety Considerations

The organism that was primarily used in this experiment was BL21(DE3) E. Coli. This organism can be handled in BSL1 conditions and "presents minimal potential hazard to laboratory personnel and the environment," according to the New England BioLabs SDS. The handling of this organism was done in sterile and controlled conditions, and presents little immediate danger.

One major biosafety consideration is the experimentation with quorom sensing and how new interactions between HSLs will affect communication between cells. Because HSL quorom sensing can directly affect factors like virility and growth rate, these could potentially have negative societal impacts. A deeper analysis of these impacts was done under the Human Practices tab.

All experimental organisms were contained through extensive methods. Benchtops were sterilized before and after use using 10% bleach and/or 70% ethanol. Organisms were grown in liquid culture tubes or agarose plates that were sealed off using Parafilm and stored in a 4°C cold room to slow growth. All biological waste was disposed of properly in biohazardous waste containers, which were sterilized in an autoclave before disposal.

Please visit the main Safety page to find this year's safety requirements & deadlines, and to learn about safe & responsible research in iGEM.

On this page of your wiki, you should write about how you are addressing any safety issues in your project. The wiki is a place where you can go beyond the questions on the safety forms, and write about whatever safety topics are most interesting in your project. (You do not need to copy your safety forms onto this wiki page.)

Safe Project Design

Does your project include any safety features? Have you made certain decisions about the design to reduce risks? Write about them here! For example:

Choosing a non-pathogenic chassis
Choosing parts that will not harm humans / animals / plants
Substituting safer materials for dangerous materials in a proof-of-concept experiment
Including an "induced lethality" or "kill-switch" device

Safe Lab Work

What safety procedures do you use every day in the lab? Did you perform any unusual experiments, or face any unusual safety issues? Write about them here!

Safe Shipment

Did you face any safety problems in sending your DNA parts to the Registry? How did you solve those problems?

Team:Arizona State/Safety