Team:USC/Safety

From 2011.igem.org

(Difference between revisions)
(Safety)
(Safety)
Line 53: Line 53:
Research safety:
Research safety:
-
Each team member attended a Safety Orientation Course held at USC and works in a lab certified for Biosafety Level 1. All members comply with the recommended safety regulations, which include wearing gloves, goggles, and lab coats whenever necessary. Potentially harmful chemicals and devices are
+
Each team member attended a Safety Orientation Course held at USC and works in a lab certified for Biosafety Level 1. All members comply with the recommended safety regulations, which include wearing gloves, goggles, and lab coats whenever necessary. Potentially harmful chemicals and devices that are used in the lab include EtBr and UV light. Both are handled with the appropriate Personal Protective Equipment.
-
  1. Would any of your project ideas raise safety issues in terms of:
+
Public safety:
-
          * researcher safety,
+
Any concern for public safety is currently not anticipated. The strain of E. coli that we are experimenting with are non-pathogenic and not viable outside the lab. Materials with bacterial exposure are disinfected with bleach before they are washed. All team members wash their hands upon leaving the lab.
-
          * public safety, or
+
 
-
          * environmental safety?
+
Environment safety:
-
  2. Do any of the new BioBrick parts (or devices) that you made this year raise any safety issues? If yes,
+
The safety of the surrounding environment should not be compromised. The E. coli strain is non-pathogenic and are disinfected with the proper chemicals when cleaning materials.
-
          * did you document these issues in the Registry?
+
 
-
          * how did you manage to handle the safety issue?
+
2. Do any of the new BioBrick parts (or devices) that you made this year raise any safety issues?
-
          * How could other teams learn from your experience?
+
 
-
  3. Is there a local biosafety group, committee, or review board at your institution?
+
No, our BioBrick parts and novel ones do not pose any issues in safety. All parts are being transformed in non-pathogenic E. coli and being expressed in vivo.
-
          * 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?
+
3. Is there a local biosafety group, committee, or review board at your institution?
-
  4. 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?
+
 
 +
Yes, the safety aspect of our project is being supervised by the Institutional Biosafety Committee at USC. All of the protocols are approved by the IBC at USC.
 +
 
 +
4. 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?
 +
 
 +
Sometimes, there seems to be a disconnection between the scientific community and the general public when discussing about safety issues that stem from scientific research. With a new and rapidly evolving field of synthetic biology entering the frame, we encourage our fellow colleagues and teams to be open-minded and communicative to the public regarding not only the benefits of the projects and synthetic biology as a whole, but also the potential harms, both physical and non-physical (e.g. morality) so that the public can be well-informed and hopefully accepting of this new science.

Revision as of 01:28, 16 July 2011


This is a template page. READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS.
You are provided with this team page template with which to start the iGEM season. You may choose to personalize it to fit your team but keep the same "look." Or you may choose to take your team wiki to a different level and design your own wiki. You can find some examples HERE.
You MUST have a team description page, a project abstract, a complete project description, a lab notebook, and a safety page. PLEASE keep all of your pages within your teams namespace.



You can write a background of your team here. Give us a background of your team, the members, etc. Or tell us more about something of your choosing.
USC logo.png

Tell us more about your project. Give us background. Use this is the abstract of your project. Be descriptive but concise (1-2 paragraphs)

Your team picture
Team Example


Home Team Official Team Profile Project Parts Submitted to the Registry Modeling Notebook Safety Attributions


Safety

In this page, we address any issues of biological safety associated with our project.

1. Would any of your project ideas raise safety issues in terms of:

Research safety: Each team member attended a Safety Orientation Course held at USC and works in a lab certified for Biosafety Level 1. All members comply with the recommended safety regulations, which include wearing gloves, goggles, and lab coats whenever necessary. Potentially harmful chemicals and devices that are used in the lab include EtBr and UV light. Both are handled with the appropriate Personal Protective Equipment.

Public safety: Any concern for public safety is currently not anticipated. The strain of E. coli that we are experimenting with are non-pathogenic and not viable outside the lab. Materials with bacterial exposure are disinfected with bleach before they are washed. All team members wash their hands upon leaving the lab.

Environment safety: The safety of the surrounding environment should not be compromised. The E. coli strain is non-pathogenic and are disinfected with the proper chemicals when cleaning materials.

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

No, our BioBrick parts and novel ones do not pose any issues in safety. All parts are being transformed in non-pathogenic E. coli and being expressed in vivo.

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

Yes, the safety aspect of our project is being supervised by the Institutional Biosafety Committee at USC. All of the protocols are approved by the IBC at USC.

4. 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?

Sometimes, there seems to be a disconnection between the scientific community and the general public when discussing about safety issues that stem from scientific research. With a new and rapidly evolving field of synthetic biology entering the frame, we encourage our fellow colleagues and teams to be open-minded and communicative to the public regarding not only the benefits of the projects and synthetic biology as a whole, but also the potential harms, both physical and non-physical (e.g. morality) so that the public can be well-informed and hopefully accepting of this new science.