Human Practices

Synthetic biology is about more than just slaving away in labs, mixing together tiny amounts of colourless liquids. In particular, our project lends itself well to making an impact on the wider public. Addressing such an important issue as the global energy crisis is a cause worthy of public engagement, which we indeed strived for over the course of the project. It turns out that countless hours spent talking to parents of students at school, writing articles for the school newspaper and presenting talks about our project were not wasted. Mr Zivanic’s Twitter prowess and Jake’s endlessly enthusiastic rambling about our project did not go unnoticed, and by the time Jamboree came around students, teachers and parents alike were engaging with members of our team all the time, asking probing questions about where our money was going as well as raising some of the more serious ethical and moral issues surrounding synthetic biology. Science is meant to be shared with the public and made accessible to everyone, and we believe we have succeeded in this with the human practices side of our project.

Safety

Safety is a paramount part of any successful scientific endeavour In order to keep ourselves, our fellow humans, and our environment safe strict biosafety regulations were in place throughout the process. Our organisms and DNA were kept securely in the school and Imperial laboratories and transfer of any biological materials was performed under strict regulations - double sealed containers to prevent against a leak to the surrounding environment, clearly labelled and protected. Outside of the occasional transfer of organisms from Imperial laboratories to the school laboratories all substances were kept securely within the school labs, classed a Biosafety level 1 as classified by the WHO.

Researcher safety

In the school labs very few potentially hazardous chemical substances were used during the project, and safer supplements for a wide range of processes were used to optimise researcher safety. With all processes (transformations, ligations etc.) proper sterile technique was used and all wastes, spills and used equipment was instantaneously disposed in Virkon and autoclaved to prevent contamination. All procedures and lab processes took place under the watchful eye of a biosafety officer in order to maintain a strict control over the safety procedures during our experiment.

In order to ensure our safety had not been compromised we managed to get reviewed by world safety executive group certifying or safety protocol All researchers were well versed in sterile technique for a lengthy period before the competition began and all were able to effectively carry out safety protocols laid down by the biosafety officer and the handbook. All researchers were properly briefed on emergency procedures such as fire drills and burn treatments, all taking part in a scheduled fire drill during lab time over the summer.

All researchers made use of gloves, safety spectacles, closed trousers, and closed sleeve lab coats in order to protect themselves from infection, cuts and burns. Biosafety; Our organisms used in the project were: E.coli DH5α (K-12 derivative), Synechocystis sp. PCC6803, Synechocystis sp. PCC6805, Synechocystis sp. PCC6806, Synechocystis sp. PCC6807. None of the aforementioned were classed above a risk group 1 by slurry of biological safety associations including the ABSA (American Biological Safety Association). None of these organisms, each used in varying procedures, pose any threat to healthy adults. We took care to ensure that none of the chassis used in the procedures were pathogenic and that each was extremely harmless.

Currently, one of the limiting steps is the growth of cyanobacteria, therefore by overexpressing the bicarbonate transporter cmpA and by linking it to a strong constitutive promoter we are hoping to increase the growth rate of cyanobacteria making it possible for them to be used in shorter time periods. This inevitably poses a potential threat, say perchance this organism were to wriggle its way to freedom and find itself in the wild its increased growth would outcompete other rivalling species. However this has been taken into account, for our experimental purposes by using a replicative, rather than an integrative plasmid, we are able to adequately test increase in BPV efficiency whilst still ensuring that in the worst case scenario that it is released into the wild the plasmid will be lost after around two generations and the organism will no longer cause any threat to the surrounding environment.

In the event that this were to become a feasible large scale operation it would require an integrative plasmid coding for an increase in cmpA, this would require a control mechanism to be installed with it to ensure that in the event of a release into the wild it could still be controlled. Viable control mechanisms include: Logic gates controlling transcription, only in the presence of specific molecules would the desired gene be transcribed thus allowing us to up regulate the gene. A ‘deadman’ switch, where an external chemical prevents transcription of genes coding for toxins that would otherwise destroy the cell. A CRISPRR kill switch would be viable as well in the event of large scale use of these BPV’s, allowing DNA to be accurately and precisely deleted in the presence of a new environment, having been shown to reduce viable cells by 10^8 fold in the presence of a control substance, this type of kill witch could prove valuable for future large scale work. Ingenious innovative means of control could one day ensure higher levels of safety for an industrial operation, introducing synthetic amino acids into the organism meaning that once the organism is dependent on these synthesised amino acids it would be unable to survive in the wild allowing safe lab use.

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