Team:BIT-China/Safety
Every member of our team has been trained about general lab safety and project design safety by our previous members. For example, the former leader and our advisors taught us how to run the experiment correctly and avoid risks.
Project design safety
For the safety of our team members, we designed the project to be as safe as possible. Because the core of our project is the mechanism that allows bacteria to commit suicide. Considering biosafety, firstly we selected Escherichia coli as the host cell when implementing the project. To avoid the number of pathogenicity, we limit its number under a specific range. Second, we select the toxic protein First of all, we select the toxin protein which does no harm to human body. Third, in the process of implementation of the project we chose the RFP as a reporter gene which can be detected directly without adding any harmful reagents. At last, we even used inducible promoters to control the expression of toxin protein genes in gene circuits.
Lab Safety
Our team conducted research in a safety level 1/2
laboratory. The organisms we were using, E. coli strain DH5α and E. coli Top 10
are suitable for the S1/2-safety laboratory we
are working in. Besides, the plasmids we are using for
transformation (pSB1C3, pKD46, pKD3, pSB3K3, pSB1K3,
pSB4K5 +? for E. coli) are not harmful for humans.
See more in Notebook/Equipments & Materials
See more in Notebook/Equipments & Materials
Because of the nature of our project, so work in contact with microorganisms is inevitable. In order to avoid any harmful effects to each member of our team, all laboratory work was in accordance with the safety requirements for the laboratory. This includes, but is not limited to, the following examples:
① Eating, drinking and smoking are prohibited in the laboratory.
② Keep workspace clean and tidy.
③ Keep the door closed while doing experiments, and remember to wash hands before leaving the lab.
④ Don’t deal with the wastes at random.
⑤ All experimenter must wear protective equipment such as gloves and Lab coat.
⑥ All equipments that came into contact with biological material (such as tips and glass glassware) must be autoclaved.
⑦ Store quick-burning, flammable materials in designated locations away from ignition sources for fire protection. And there is no accumulated clutter in the hallway, for our safety while accident happening.
⑧ Laboratory for experiments, seminar rooms for research and discussion, and the studio used to query the data. Laboratory and office work is clearly and rigorously divided. These provisions are intended to prevent the possibility of unnecessary cross-contamination in the laboratory.
② Keep workspace clean and tidy.
③ Keep the door closed while doing experiments, and remember to wash hands before leaving the lab.
④ Don’t deal with the wastes at random.
⑤ All experimenter must wear protective equipment such as gloves and Lab coat.
⑥ All equipments that came into contact with biological material (such as tips and glass glassware) must be autoclaved.
⑦ Store quick-burning, flammable materials in designated locations away from ignition sources for fire protection. And there is no accumulated clutter in the hallway, for our safety while accident happening.
⑧ Laboratory for experiments, seminar rooms for research and discussion, and the studio used to query the data. Laboratory and office work is clearly and rigorously divided. These provisions are intended to prevent the possibility of unnecessary cross-contamination in the laboratory.
Dangerous chemicals
We tried to avoid the use of dangerous chemicals whenever possible. We have completely banned a number of dangerous chemicals, such as ethidium bromide which has been replaced by anthocyanin for our DNA gel electrophoresis. At the same time, we have restricted the use of dangerous chemicals (such as acrylamide) which must be clearly marked areas in the laboratory. And we are also required to keep the chemistry reagents in classified storage.
