Safety proposal

Would the materials used in your project and/or your final product pose

• Risks to the safety and health of team members or others in the lab?
• Risks to the safety and health of the general public if released by design or accident?
• Risks to environmental quality if released by design or accident?
• Risks to security through malicious misuse by individuals, groups or states?

Our study will not contain any manipulation associated with pathogenic bacteria, live salmonella bacteria. Although we are planning to use a part of Salmonella's genome which was obtained from Salmonella Genetic Stock Centre (SGSC), our instructor obtained appropriate permission from the safety officer of genetic recombination (SOOGR) in our university. These E. coli were acknowledged as non-pathogenic and permitted to be used under P1 safety level.

Permit for using particular parts of Salmonella's genome library was obtained on the basis that genetic information encoded in them is not sufficient to express pathogenicity in E. coli.

Our lab is equipped appropriately for the manipulation and genetic recombination of bacterial cells. Team members are instructed according to the safety training manual.

Do any of the new BioBrick parts (or devices) that you made this year raise any safety issues? If yes,

• did you document these issues in the Registry?
• how did you manage to handle the safety issue?
• How could other teams learn from your experience?

Currently there are no BioBricks which raise any safety issues. Some of our BioBricks are intended to use with Type 3 Secretion System. However we did not submit Type 3 Secretion System to BioBrick Registry. Parts of Salmonella's genome library should be directly obtained from Salmonella Genetic Stock Centre with appropriate permits.

Is there a local biosafety group, committee, or review board at your institution?

• If yes, what does your local biosafety group think about your project?
• If no, which specific biosafety rules or guidelines do you have to consider in your country?

We have “the Safety Office of Genetic Recombination in Hokkaido University”. Our lab was permitted to use E. coli containing following parts of salmonella genome library.

B_STM02P01　SGSC4014　837453-941863

B_STM07H21 SGSC4024 1464540-1562427

Do you have any other ideas how to deal with safety issues that could be useful for future iGEM competitions? How could parts, devices and systems be made even safer through biosafety engineering?

For our injection essay we planed to use GSK tag ,which is documented on our wiki, for identifying proteins injected into eucaryotic cells by type 3 secretion system.

GSK tag system for screening proteins submited to BioBrick Registry can be put in place. This system can detect proteins which can enter eucaryotic cells. Thus can be used to asses potential for safety issues for every BioBrick. Of course there other ways that BioBrick might be causing harm. Nonetheless this system should be part of the arsenal for checking BioBricks for safety.