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Team:Debrecen Hungary/Safety
From 2011.igem.org
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Nuclear hormone receptors (NHRs) are ligand activated transcription factors. They are able to regulate the expression of their target genes by direct DNA-binding, in a ligand-dependent manner. NHRs bear high homology to each other and are modular into distinct regions: N-terminal regulatory region, DNA-binding domain, a Hinge region, Ligand binding domain (LBD) and a C-terminal region. Some Nematode NHRs can be activated by extracted oil contamination of the soil so they can use as possible oil sensors in the future. Zinc finger motifs are the tools of NHRs to bind DNA and regulate gene expression directly. These tiny elements can be tested as direct gene regulators. Controlled gene induction can also lead to programmed cell death which is a less harmful tool in order to quit non-functionable cells. | File:Debrecen Hungary team.png Your team picture |
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==Safety==
1. Would any of your project ideas raise safety issues in terms of researcher safety, public safety, or environmental safety?
No issue of researcher safety, public safety or environmental safety were raised during Debrecen's iGEM 2011 project. We only worked with non-hazardous, non-infectious, commonly used and accepted bacteria strain (DH5α) and mammalian cancer cell lines (COS-1). When working with toxic chemicals (e.g. ethidiumbromide or estrogen), nitrile gloves, and white coats were worn. All of the work was conducted in a biosafety level S1 laboratory. Rules of the best microbiological practices were applied.
2. Do any of the new BioBrick parts (or devices) that you made this year raise any safety issues?
All material handled or distributed are non-hazardous and non-infectious. It agrees with all safety standards requested biosafety level 1, therfore the project get a full supports for the work done by the iGEM team. We developed synthetic LBD's for use in mammalian cells in fusion parts. These parts are completely harmless, no matter what organism they are transformed / transfected into.
3. Is there a local biosafety group, committee, or review board at your institution?
All of our work complies with the University of Debrecen's local biosafety and bioethics regulations. Our project leader and team instructors oversaw the biological safety issue throughout the whole working time this year. There is also a biosafety supervisor who supervises the overall laboratory work biosecurity-wise. All team members who worked at the bench this summer have had proper safety training. We received approval from all overseeing groups.
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?
An important tool to raise interest and knowledge in safety issues is education. Open source webpages containing regulations, new ideas, video tutorials etc. can be designed. Online forums, trainings, courses should be organized in order to share new issues between groups and experts.
