Using hazardous materials always has risk to cause trouble for team and lab members. We always use hoods and wearing lab coat, gloves, goggles are essential for an experiment. We are working on two species one of them is Chlamydomonas reinhardtii which has no dangerous effect on human health. Other one is Bacillus subtilis which also is not human pathogen but it could cause food poisoning.

Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is a strain of algae and it could cause algal bloom that means it overgrown in a water ecosystem and become poisonous for other species which share same places. According to a Toxic Substances Control Act report from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Bacillus subtilis is considered “a benign organism as it does not possess traits that cause disease. It is not considered pathogenic or toxigenic to humans, animals, or plants. The potential risk associated with the use of this bacterium in fermentation facilities is low.” Its degree of toxicity is III and IV the lowest toxicity effect on other species.

We haven’t checked modified organism is more competitive than natural strains. However; Bacillus subtilis is well-known and commonly used model organism like Chlamydomonas reinhardtii .

Our modified Chlamydomonas reinhardtii just degrade TNT and it could not use for terrorism activity. Those two modified organism could not have ability to damage human health. Our facility always has an active security system and it requires an identity card for enterance.

Pathogenicity, infectivity, or toxicity?

No.

Threats to environmental quality?

Yes and no.

Security concerns?

No.

Natural strain cause algal bloom and threat environmental quality so we used biological hazardous waste for them. And after our work is finished, we applies bleach (%5) and then it goes to waste.
b. Describe and document safety, security, health and/or environmental issues as you submit your parts to the Registry.

Our parts have not any safety, security and health issues. However, adding NfsI gene into algae could make it more competitive than normal strains. It requires checking before releasing to nature.

Our institution have its own biosafety rules and it takes 19 page so we added a link below which leads to institution’s safety committee page and it contains two link; one of them orientation of our lab and other one is chemical disposal form.

b. Does your institution have an Institutional Biosafety Committee or equivalent group? If yes, have you discussed your project with them? Describe any concerns or changes that were made based on this review.

We have a Laboratory Safety Committee; however, we did not discuss about our project because our experiment contains standard cloning procedure, which has always done in the lab.

c. Will / did you receive any biosafety and/or lab training before beginning your project? If so, describe this training.

Our institution have an exam about biosafety, we passed it. It consists of orientation which mentioned above.

d. Does your country have national biosafety regulations or guidelines? If so, provide a link to them online if possible.

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

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?

Groups which will use our parts should be consider resistance of transgenic algae. None of our parts raise any safety issues. In iNitroalgae Project, Clamydomonas reinhardtii experiments were done indoor of a BSL1 laboratory setting. Working with algae could be include transgenic plant policy to care about but we are not sure.

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?

The National Nanotechnology Research Center (UNAM) has a guidelines primarily focused on prpoerly disposing of biohazardous materials. We don’t require to contact to these group since, our project has usual techniques which is standard for cloning. All team members obey the rules during researches.

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?

The Registry of Standard Biological Parts include a set of safety process (e.g., proper storage, disposal, lab precautions, and so on.), when they got this parts they accept to take care about those cautions. Simple precautions could save really complicated harmful exposure. All team member should be informed about those safety regulations.

Retrieved from "http://2011.igem.org/Team:Bilkent_UNAM_Turkey/Safety"

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