Team:Cambridge/Safety

From 2011.igem.org

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(Containment)
(Do your project ideas raise biosafety issues?)
 
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Safety is of utmost importance during projects involving synthetic biology. Not only must the welfare of scientist and non-scientific staff within the department be considered, but also that of the wider community. It is therefore important that safety procedures are in place to minimise the risk of harm to both employees and the wider community.
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=Safety=
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This has been implemented in our lab in many ways. We took care that everyone in the team was fully aware of all the safety protocols by attending a presentation given by our lab safety officer, Barbara Landamore, and reading the Department's Code of Practice for working with genetically modified (GM) organisms before being granted GM worker status.  
+
Safety is of utmost importance during projects involving synthetic biology. Not only must the welfare of scientific and non-scientific staff within the department be considered, but also that of the wider community.  Safety procedures have been prioritised from the beginning of our project and we have taken care to pick a project that poses minimal biosafety risks even in the event of accidental release from a laboratory.
-
==The Cambridge Biosafety Group==
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==Do your project ideas raise biosafety issues?==
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The biological safety officer for our department is Dr Ed Tanner. An interdepartmental team, the Biosafety Group has reviewed our project brief and has passed our nominations for all members of the team to be able to work with [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosafety_level Biosafety level one] organisms in the Plant Sciences department, which is itself an approved containment level one facility. We have thus been cleared to work with bacteria that have been classified as being "unlikely to cause human disease". However, before carrying out any work with GM bacteria, the relevant risk assessment forms must be submitted to the Head of Group within the Department for approval.
+
We made a point of envisioning [[Team:Cambridge/Project/Conclusion | plans for future applications]] that do not rely on exposing the environment or the public to genetically modified organisms. Our project creates new systems that can be used within current biosafety guidelines, rather than relying on a significant shift in policy towards release of GM organisms.
-
==Safety inside the lab==
+
===Public Safety===
 +
*Should an organism containing the reflectin production devices escape from the lab, we do not anticipate any significant hazards for the public since '''structural colour will not increase the host range of the host bacteria, nor alter its pathogenicity'''.
 +
===Environmental Safety===
 +
*Organisms with structural colour should interact with their environments in an identical way to those without, so '''there are no significant risks of environmental damage'''. We work with disabled strains which should be at a disadvantage in the natural environment and would not be expected to survive outside the lab.
 +
===Researcher Safety===
 +
*We will be working with multiply disabled strains of E. coli (which cannot survive in the gut, unlike pathogenic strains), this should render our bacteria effectively '''harmless to researchers'''.
-
===Waste Disposal===
+
==Are your BioBrick parts safe?==
-
Disposing of equipment used for experimental purposes is a significant challenge, and detailed procedures are in place within the department in order to ensure the safe disposal of all equipment, or its recycling where possible. The chart below outlines our departmental waste disposal policy - it is currently up on our wall in the lab.
+
-
[[File:cam_waste_chart.jpg|centre|800px]]
+
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====Autoclave====
+
The proteins that we produce originate from an edible squid, so there should be '''no toxic or pathogenic issues''' associated with working with reflectins.  We have created novel fusions of reflectins with fluorescent proteins, but there are no known safety issues with the separate proteins.  The biobricks we produced thus also have no particular biosafety risks associated with them.
-
All reasonable measures must be taken to prevent the release of biological material from the department, and so all biological matter must be autoclaved before disposal.
+
As a consequence, we do not think that our genetically modified bacteria could be maliciously misused in any way that could pose a security risk either.
-
[[File:CAM SAFETY AUTOCLAVE2.JPG | frame | center | ''fig 1.''The Autoclave Room]]
+
-
[[File:CAM SAFETY AUTOCLAVE1.JPG | thumb | right | 150px | ''fig 2.'' Barbara Landamore, demonstrating glassware ready for autoclaving]]
+
==Suggestions for the future==
-
Glasses for autoclaving should be:
+
-
*Only partially filled: the solution will boil during autoclaving and hence expand
+
-
*Lidded (loosely) - gas must be able to escape (to prevent explosion)
+
-
*Labelled 'iGEM' so any problems can be reported back to us
+
-
*Left on the table to the right (see picture)
+
-
*Collected from the autoclaving room
+
-
Other equipment, e.g. petri dishes, should be bagged, labelled and placed in the yellow box to the right (see picture). If the items are sharp (and hence could penetrate the autoclave bags, presenting a hazard to autoclave technicians) then they should be placed in a secure closed container before being bagged.
+
The low-risk nature of our project is no accident; these considerations featured heavily in our [[Team:Cambridge/Brainstorm | brainstorming sessions]], and we discarded many potential project ideas because of their potential biosafety implications. This is the kind of practice we would like to encourage more iGEM teams to take seriously when choosing a project - many past project designs would not have passed our stringent biosafety checks. [[Team:Cambridge/Brainstorm#Responsibilities_when_working_with_GMOs | Check out some of our suggested guidelines.]]  We also made sure to incorporate safety information for each [[Team:Cambridge/Protocols | protocol we developed]] to help future teams recognise potential hazards.
-
Items which are unsuitably prepared for autoclaving (e.g. loose pipette tips in bags) wil be returned, and will not be autoclaved until they are prepared appropriately for the procedure.
+
==Biosafety regulations for our project==
-
===Containment===
+
The biological safety officer for our department is Dr Ed Tanner, so he has been the first port of call whenever anyone has had any doubts about biosafety measures. An interdepartmental team, the Cambridge Biosafety Group, has reviewed our project brief and has passed our nominations for all members of the team to be able to work with [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosafety_level Biosafety level one] organisms in the Plant Sciences department, which is itself an approved containment level one facility. Departmental Codes of Practice for GM organisms were also consulted whilst planning our project. We have thus been cleared to work with bacteria that have been classified as being "unlikely to cause human disease". However, before carrying out any work with GM bacteria, the relevant risk assessment forms must be submitted to the Head of Group within the Department for approval.
-
Genetically modified material must not be allowed to leave the laboratory. While the likelihood of the strains of bacteria with which we will be working surviving in the wild is low, the environmental impact of such an event could be severe, and thus every reasonable precaution must be taken to prevent such an occurrence.
+
Working in the UK, there are also [http://www.hse.gov.uk/biosafety/gmo/law.htm national biosafety regulations] that we were made aware of before beginning our project. We have complied with all of these guidelines, and hence have worked well within the law.
-
Since we will only be working with biosafety level one organisms, our work can be carried out on open bench tops, but gloves and lab coats must be worn during experimentation in order to protect the worker and reduce the risk of contamination. Within the lab, 'wet' experimental work was restricted to the 'Wet Area' whereas write-ups and computer work took place solely in the 'Dry Area'. Coats, bags, laptops and other belongings were also restricted to the Dry Area. These areas were clearly segregated to ensure nothing that left the lab could have come into contact with biological material at any point, further confining the biological material.
+
=Biosafety in the lab=
-
All items which have come into contact with bacteria must be [https://2011.igem.org/Team:Cambridge/Safety#Autoclave autoclaved] before disposal, and neither lab-coats nor gloves should leave the laboratory.
+
 +
Genetically modified material must not be allowed to leave the laboratory. While the likelihood of the strains of bacteria with which we will be working surviving in the wild is low, every reasonable precaution must be taken to prevent such an occurrence.
-
==Hazards for the Environment and the general public==
+
Since we will only be working with biosafety level one organisms, our work can be carried out on open bench tops, but gloves and lab coats must be worn during experimentation in order to protect the worker and reduce the risk of contamination. Within the lab, 'wet' experimental work was restricted to the 'Wet Area' whereas write-ups and computing work took place solely in the 'Dry Area'. Coats, bags, laptops and other belongings were also restricted to the Dry Area. These areas were clearly segregated to ensure nothing that leaves the lab should have come into contact with biological material at any point.
 +
All items which have come into contact with bacteria were autoclaved before disposal, and neither lab-coats nor gloves were allowed to leave the laboratory.
-
We do not anticipate that any of the bacteria that we have worked with could pose any significant risks to the environment or the general public. The organisms are non-pathogenic, and not infective. They also survive only under very particular conditions that would be difficult to recreate outside the lab (i.e. pH, temperature, food). The bacteria should be unable to infect any living organism, since we used strains of E. coli that have been multiply disabled such that they can no longer survive in the human gut and did not (knowingly) expand its host range by genetic engineering. The reflectin protein that we produced is also known to be non-toxic, since it is present in the skin of many edible species of squid. However, since we are aware that unexpected risks may exist, we still ensured that any material that could potentially have come into contact with live bacteria were autoclaved before disposal. In this way, we maintained containment of the biological organisms within our lab.
+
===Waste Disposal===
 +
The proper waste disposal routes were followed stringently in order to prevent the reagents and biological material that we worked with from causing any harm to the environment or the general public. Disposing of equipment used for experimental purposes is a significant challenge, and detailed procedures are in place within the department in order to ensure the safe disposal of all materials, or their recycling where possible. The chart below outlines our departmental waste disposal policy - it is currently up on our wall in the lab.
 +
[[File:cam_waste_chart.jpg|centre|720px]]
-
==Security Risks==
+
====Autoclave====
 +
Autoclaving is a very effective method of sterilisation, and so this was executed on all materials that could possibly have come into contact with live biological matter before disposal. This was our principle method of enforcing containment over the summer.
 +
[[File:CAM SAFETY AUTOCLAVE2.JPG | frame | center | ''fig 1.''The Autoclave Room]]
-
We do not think that our genetically modified bacteria could be maliciously misused in any way that could pose a security risk, since (as described above) neither the organisms nor reflectin pose any notable hazards for the environment or the general public.
+
[[File:CAM SAFETY AUTOCLAVE1.JPG | thumb | right | 150px | ''fig 2.'' Barbara Landamore, demonstrating glassware ready for autoclaving]]
 +
Some very clear guidelines are enforced on the use of the autoclaving service in our department. For example, glasses for autoclaving should be:
 +
*Only partially filled: any liquids inside will boil during autoclaving and hence expand
 +
*Lidded (loosely) - gas must be able to escape (to prevent explosion)
 +
*Labelled 'iGEM' so any problems can be reported back to us
 +
*Left on the table to the right (see picture)
 +
*Collected from the autoclaving room
 +
Other equipment, e.g. petri dishes, should be bagged, labelled and placed in the yellow box to the right (see picture). If the items are sharp (and hence could penetrate the autoclave bags, presenting a hazard to autoclave technicians) then they should be placed in a secure closed container before being bagged.
-
===Working with reflectin===
+
Items which are unsuitably prepared for autoclaving (e.g. loose pipette tips in bags) will be returned, and will not be autoclaved until they are prepared appropriately for the procedure.
-
 
+
-
Since the DNA we will be working with originate from an edible squid, there should be no toxicity or pathogenic issues associated with working with reflectin. Culturing E. coli to produce reflectin also shouldn't expand it's host range (as far as we are aware), and we have no intention of releasing the GM organisms into either the human body or the environment, either during the competition or in speculative applications. Consequently, our project has minimal biosafety issues. This is no accident; these considerations featured heavily in our [https://2011.igem.org/Team:Cambridge/Brainstorm brainstorming] sessions, and we discarded many potential project ideas because of their potential biosafety implications. This is the kind of practice we would like to encourage more iGEM teams to take seriously when choosing a project, since after browsing through past iGEM projects, it seems like many of the ideas would not have passed our stringent biosafety checks! Check out some of our suggested guidelines [https://2011.igem.org/Team:Cambridge/Brainstorm#Responsibilities_when_working_with_GMOs here].
+
-
 
+
-
We have not yet begun to develop specific experimental plans, but when we do we will submit detailed risk assessments to the relevant authority before we commence our work. The associated safety issues will be discussed in the [https://2011.igem.org/Team:Cambridge/Experiments experiments] section. Similarly, we haven't yet created any new BioBricks, but we will discuss the relevant biosafety considerations as soon as they arise. Should an organism containing the reflectin expressing gene escape from the lab, we do not anticipate any significant risks to the public or the environment since we do not intend to increase the host range of the host bacteria, nor alter its pathogenicity. Since we will be working with multiply disabled strains of E. coli (which cannot survive in the gut, unlike pathogenic strains), this should render our bacteria effectively harmless.
+
-
===Protocols===
+
=Minimising risks inside the lab=
-
The safety issues associated with common protocols that we employ are/will be detailed in the [https://2011.igem.org/Team:Cambridge/Protocols protocols] section. As with everything else on this wiki, it's still a work in progress!
+
Within the lab, MSDS sheets were consulted whenever we planned to use new chemicals/reagents, to ensure that all possible safety hazards had been taken into consideration before any accidents could happen. For each [[Team:Cambridge/Protocols | protocol followed]] we prepared a COSHH form for departmental records and recorded any safety issues in the relevant section of the protocol, as a reference for ourselves and future teams. 
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Latest revision as of 17:04, 15 September 2011

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Safety

Safety is of utmost importance during projects involving synthetic biology. Not only must the welfare of scientific and non-scientific staff within the department be considered, but also that of the wider community. Safety procedures have been prioritised from the beginning of our project and we have taken care to pick a project that poses minimal biosafety risks even in the event of accidental release from a laboratory.

Do your project ideas raise biosafety issues?

We made a point of envisioning plans for future applications that do not rely on exposing the environment or the public to genetically modified organisms. Our project creates new systems that can be used within current biosafety guidelines, rather than relying on a significant shift in policy towards release of GM organisms.

Public Safety

  • Should an organism containing the reflectin production devices escape from the lab, we do not anticipate any significant hazards for the public since structural colour will not increase the host range of the host bacteria, nor alter its pathogenicity.

Environmental Safety

  • Organisms with structural colour should interact with their environments in an identical way to those without, so there are no significant risks of environmental damage. We work with disabled strains which should be at a disadvantage in the natural environment and would not be expected to survive outside the lab.

Researcher Safety

  • We will be working with multiply disabled strains of E. coli (which cannot survive in the gut, unlike pathogenic strains), this should render our bacteria effectively harmless to researchers.

Are your BioBrick parts safe?

The proteins that we produce originate from an edible squid, so there should be no toxic or pathogenic issues associated with working with reflectins. We have created novel fusions of reflectins with fluorescent proteins, but there are no known safety issues with the separate proteins. The biobricks we produced thus also have no particular biosafety risks associated with them. As a consequence, we do not think that our genetically modified bacteria could be maliciously misused in any way that could pose a security risk either.

Suggestions for the future

The low-risk nature of our project is no accident; these considerations featured heavily in our brainstorming sessions, and we discarded many potential project ideas because of their potential biosafety implications. This is the kind of practice we would like to encourage more iGEM teams to take seriously when choosing a project - many past project designs would not have passed our stringent biosafety checks. Check out some of our suggested guidelines. We also made sure to incorporate safety information for each protocol we developed to help future teams recognise potential hazards.

Biosafety regulations for our project

The biological safety officer for our department is Dr Ed Tanner, so he has been the first port of call whenever anyone has had any doubts about biosafety measures. An interdepartmental team, the Cambridge Biosafety Group, has reviewed our project brief and has passed our nominations for all members of the team to be able to work with [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosafety_level Biosafety level one] organisms in the Plant Sciences department, which is itself an approved containment level one facility. Departmental Codes of Practice for GM organisms were also consulted whilst planning our project. We have thus been cleared to work with bacteria that have been classified as being "unlikely to cause human disease". However, before carrying out any work with GM bacteria, the relevant risk assessment forms must be submitted to the Head of Group within the Department for approval.

Working in the UK, there are also [http://www.hse.gov.uk/biosafety/gmo/law.htm national biosafety regulations] that we were made aware of before beginning our project. We have complied with all of these guidelines, and hence have worked well within the law.

Biosafety in the lab

Genetically modified material must not be allowed to leave the laboratory. While the likelihood of the strains of bacteria with which we will be working surviving in the wild is low, every reasonable precaution must be taken to prevent such an occurrence.

Since we will only be working with biosafety level one organisms, our work can be carried out on open bench tops, but gloves and lab coats must be worn during experimentation in order to protect the worker and reduce the risk of contamination. Within the lab, 'wet' experimental work was restricted to the 'Wet Area' whereas write-ups and computing work took place solely in the 'Dry Area'. Coats, bags, laptops and other belongings were also restricted to the Dry Area. These areas were clearly segregated to ensure nothing that leaves the lab should have come into contact with biological material at any point. All items which have come into contact with bacteria were autoclaved before disposal, and neither lab-coats nor gloves were allowed to leave the laboratory.

Waste Disposal

The proper waste disposal routes were followed stringently in order to prevent the reagents and biological material that we worked with from causing any harm to the environment or the general public. Disposing of equipment used for experimental purposes is a significant challenge, and detailed procedures are in place within the department in order to ensure the safe disposal of all materials, or their recycling where possible. The chart below outlines our departmental waste disposal policy - it is currently up on our wall in the lab.

Cam waste chart.jpg

Autoclave

Autoclaving is a very effective method of sterilisation, and so this was executed on all materials that could possibly have come into contact with live biological matter before disposal. This was our principle method of enforcing containment over the summer.

fig 1.The Autoclave Room
fig 2. Barbara Landamore, demonstrating glassware ready for autoclaving

Some very clear guidelines are enforced on the use of the autoclaving service in our department. For example, glasses for autoclaving should be:

  • Only partially filled: any liquids inside will boil during autoclaving and hence expand
  • Lidded (loosely) - gas must be able to escape (to prevent explosion)
  • Labelled 'iGEM' so any problems can be reported back to us
  • Left on the table to the right (see picture)
  • Collected from the autoclaving room

Other equipment, e.g. petri dishes, should be bagged, labelled and placed in the yellow box to the right (see picture). If the items are sharp (and hence could penetrate the autoclave bags, presenting a hazard to autoclave technicians) then they should be placed in a secure closed container before being bagged.

Items which are unsuitably prepared for autoclaving (e.g. loose pipette tips in bags) will be returned, and will not be autoclaved until they are prepared appropriately for the procedure.

Minimising risks inside the lab

Within the lab, MSDS sheets were consulted whenever we planned to use new chemicals/reagents, to ensure that all possible safety hazards had been taken into consideration before any accidents could happen. For each protocol followed we prepared a COSHH form for departmental records and recorded any safety issues in the relevant section of the protocol, as a reference for ourselves and future teams.