Our Approach to Biological Safety Issues Regarding Our CRISPR Project

Researcher 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 safety issues that stem from scientific research. With a new and rapidly evolving field that is 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.