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Team:Nevada/Safety
From 2011.igem.org
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Safety Questions
1. Is there a local biosafety group, committee or review board at your institution?
o Yes, The Nevada iGEM team operates under the guidelines established by The University of Nevada, Reno’s Environmental Health & Safety Department (EH&S) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) guidelines for Research Involving Recombinant DNA.
2. If yes, what does your local biosafety group think about your project?
o We have presented our project proposal to EH&S, and after a review of our materials and procedures, the safety office has approved our project and deemed our practices consistent with The University of Nevada and NIH safety regulations.
3. Would any of your project ideas raise safety issues in term of:
Researcher Safety
o All team members were required to attend two safety workshops. The first course is a basic safety class outlining the proper way to handle and dispose of chemicals and biological hazards. The second safety course is to teach us the ethical and safety issues associated with genetically engineering organisms.
o The Nevada team’s laboratory environment is certified for Biosafety Level 1 (BSL-1) work as listed in the Appendix G-II-A-1 of NIH Guidelines
o Access to the laboratory is limited or restricted at the discretion of the Principal Investigator when experiments are in progress.
o Work surfaces are decontaminated once a day and after any spill of viable material.
o Contaminated liquid or solid wastes are decontaminated before disposal.
o Mechanical pipetting devices are used; mouth pipetting is prohibited.
o Persons wash their hands:
(i) after they handle materials involving organisms containing recombinant DNA molecules and animals, and
(ii) before exiting the laboratory.
o All procedures are performed carefully to minimize the creation of aerosols.
o In the interest of good personal hygiene, facilities (e.g., hand washing sink, shower, changing room) and protective clothing (e.g., laboratory coats, safety glasses and nitrile gloves) shall be provided that are appropriate for the risk of exposure to viable organisms containing recombinant DNA molecules.
o Synthetic biology research does sometimes require interaction with potentially dangerous substances. Listed below are those substances which pose the greatest risk to researcher safety.
o Eithidium Bromide (EtBr) - This substance was used to stain DNA for gel electrophoresis. Even though it is used in highly diluted solutions, it is still a toxic substance and a suspected mutagen. Because of this, everyone who handles EtBr must wear nitrile gloves, a lab coat and safety glasses. The amount of Eithdium Bromide utilized by this lab is small and it poses little environmental danger at its functional concentration. All liquid and solid waste that comes in contact with this substance is stored and disposed of as required by EH&S.
o Ultraviolet light (UV) – Used for the visualizing of stained DNA, this form of light poses the risk of UV radiation. To avoid exposure when reading gels, UV lights were contained inside of equipments that acted as a UV-blocking shield and when performing gel extractions, exposure was prevented by wearing lab coats, nitrile gloves and using safety glasses and UV-protection screens.
o Bunsen Burners – Used for sterilizing certain laboratory equipment such as inoculation loops or plate spreaders. This equipment can cause burns and fires if neglected or misused.
o Culture Mediums – Solutions and plates containing nutrient rich media were used to grow E. coli and Cyanobacteria. If media, such as Lauria Broth, are released in large quantities into the environment they have the potential to disrupt ecosystems by promoting the growth of abnormal bacteria and fungi. All leftover stocks and plates are autoclaved or combined with a bleach solution before being disposed of as specified by the EH&S.
o All other toxic and hazardous chemicals were handled to avoid direct contact and with observance of proper safety procedures.
Public and Environmental Safety
o There is no concern for the safety of the public or the environment because the bacteria cells we worked with are all non-pathogenic with controlled antibiotic resistance and they would not be able to survive outside of the laboratory setting.
