Team:Copenhagen/Safety

Synthetic Biology and Safety

By combining biology and engineering, Synthetic Biology is seen as the design and construction of new biological functions and systems not found in nature. The aim of this biological construction holds high promise in the discovery of cures for various diseases, methods for biofuel production, plants of the future, functional foods and molecular bioelectronics. The development of better medicine and sustainable energy are some of the main focuses.

Rapid advances within this new emerging field have the potential of greatly benefitting mankind, though posits tremendous dangers in the wrong hands or if mistakes are made. It is therefore imperative that we as future researchers are completely aware of the consequences we might have on society and the environment. It is therefore imperative that we as a team are completely aware of the safety and security of our labs and our work, and that we recognize the importance of each member’s responsibility to uphold both international and national laws, regulations and guidelines.

The Danish laws for working with GMO’s are set forth by the Danish Labour Inspectorate, Arbejdstilsynet, and apply to both commercial and academical institutes. Under these laws, The Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Copenhagen has set forth a list of procedures for working in a GMO level 1 laboratory. These are followed thoroughly by all members of the Copenhagen iGEM team 2011.

The WHO defines biosafety as the prevention of unintentional exposure to pathogens and toxins, or their accidental release, whereas biosecurity is the prevention of loss, theft, misuse, diversion or intentional release of pathogens and toxins.

It is important to keep unqualified personnel and trespassers away from the laboratory and the samples. Access to the laboratories during afterhours is locked down automatically, and a magnetic keycard (only approved by the administration at the University of Copenhagen) is necessary for admittance to the lab areas.

Following the guidelines to the WHO Laboratory biosafety manual, the safety of our iGEM team is ensured by having our laboratories equipped with fire extinguishers, emergency showers, eye showers and heart defibrillators. The same laboratories, which are in use for our iGEM project, are classified as BSL level 1 on the WHO terminology of biosafety levels (BSL).

The Copenhagen iGEM Team 2011 is currently working with the non-pathetogenic Escherichia Coli derivates XL-Blue and BL21 (DE3), classified under BSL-1. These are generally regarded as safe.

• 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?

All of our work and research with Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO’s) is contained in a GMO-class 1 laboratory at the Faculty of Life Sciences, at Copenhagen University. All processes carried out have been done so only after training and/or under the supervision of a skilled instructor to ensure proper protocols are followed.
To supplement researcher safety, every team member underwent safety and waste disposal training before performing any experiments in the lab. Furthermore, the team will be supervised throughout the project by more experienced research scientist.

One of our main project aims is the intention of using variants of Escherichia Coli, expressing different proteins of the cytochrome P450 superfamily, to modify and reduce the activity of estrogen in water. The project may have a potentially significant safety risk of being released into water ways and thus may have a negative effect on the environment. This is highly unlikely, as our project is intended to function as a fundamental research project more than a “product” to be used “as is” in the environment. Therefore, all experiments with our BioBricks and use of GMO’s will occur in a contained laboratory environment, with sufficient biosafety and biosecurity requirements.

Public safety is ensured as no member of the public is permitted access within the GMO-class 1 labs, unless approved by the university.
Environmental safety is ensured as all of our experiments are contained and disposed safely following to both international (WHO) and Danish (Arbejdstilsynet) laws.

None of the BioBricks we have created (or are planning to create) raises any specific safety issues. All GMO’s are set to biosafety level 1 (BSL1), there are no risks of hazard or biological safety issues to mankind (that we know of).

Any safety issues discovered will naturally be fully documented in the Parts Registry. Although the iGEM project timescale is insufficient for BioBricks characteristics such as genetic reliability and performance reliability. Additional work is usually required if the Parts Registry is to be fully updated and reliable.

There is a biosafety board in our laboratory at the Faculty of Life Sciences, Copenhagen University (biosafety). All protocols set forth by the biosafety board are being followed by the Copenhagen iGEM Team.

As the iGEM competition is gradually becoming more and more popular with each year passing – then the number of BioBricks created will also increase. Therefore, to keep the Parts Registry fully documented and reliable, some form of testing of the BioBricks will have to occur before sending them for use in the Parts Registry database. Safety guidelines when working with GMO’s should be set forth by iGEM – making sure to inform the participants that each country/university may have their own deviations in protocol.