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From 2011.igem.org

Safety

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

   While our project is not outstanding in the amount of danger it poses, there are risks in standard practices that we as researchers need to be aware of.

   In terms of the chemicals and techniques used in our lab, we regularly handle ethidium bromide (EB) agarose gels for imaging DNA fragments. To avoid exposure to EB, there is a designated bench area and set of instruments that are only used for processes involving EB. When working in this area or using equipment that has come into contact with EB, exposure is avoided through the use of nitrile gloves. Similarly, exposure to UV light is avoided by using appripriate shielding from UV lamps. When doing gel extraction, a face shield and appropriate clothing are worn to prevent exposure.

   The workhorse organism of our lab is E. coli Top10, a multideficient strain of E. coli that does not thrive outside of a lab environment. The next most commonly used strain in our lab is the environmental bacteria Caulobacter crescentus, a species of bacteria that poses no threat to humans as it cannot survive at either the salinity of the human body nor the temperature. Additionally, even though Caulobacter is a gram negative bacteria, it produces so little endotoxin that it does not produce a noticeable immune response. More dangerous are Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis, though both of these are commensal on human skin, in human nasal cavity, and in the mouth. Strains of E. coli Top10 and Caulobacter are given antibiotic resistences for selection purposes, but this is within normal lab protocols. Outside of this, the strains we are using are not given any extra ability to grow outside of the lab environment.

   We take care to autoclave all waste that comes into contact with biological materials and sterilize our benches with ethanol. All glassware is bleach sterilized before being washed.

   • public safety

   We work in a locked lab which people outside of our lab group and immediate support staff lack access to. Additionally, as stated above we purposely use strains that pose a minimal threat to humans.

   • or environmental safety?

   Our working strain of E. coli does not thrive outside of a lab environment due to being multideficient. Caulobacter is a bacteria native to the environment, and as such care is taken to sterilize so as to avoid the accidental release of the lab strain into the environment. The strains of S. aureus and S. epidermidis are both unchanged from the wild type.

   Genetic information and proteins are also autoclaved before they are thrown away. Small amounts of EB are regularly used, so there is a special waste protocol for used agarose gels.

2. 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?

   The parts we are designing are not projected to cause any safety concerns.

3. 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?

   The institutional biosafety committee is still reviewing our project, though there does not appear to be any issues with our methodology.

   • If no, which specific biosafety rules or guidelines do you have to consider in your country?


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?

This is a question that we are still thinking about, and have yet to come to a proper conclusion on.