Team:UIUC-Illinois/Safety

As student researchers on the iGEM team, we are exposed to all of the basic risks involved in performing experiments in a laboratory environment. This includes working with open flames, carcinogenic reagents, and genetically modified micro-organisms. We are also working with a non-infectious strain of E.coli. Specific components of our project do not introduce additional need for safety concern.

Our project also entails that we modify our host organism to be resistant to a variety of antibiotics. We currently have E.coli strains resistant to ampicillin, tetracycline, kanamycin, and chloramphenicol. Safety concerns over antibiotic-resistant strains of microbes is a legitimate one as exposure to these organisms compromises public health. As such, we use the utmost care when dealing with these organisms to ensure they are contained and will not be a threat to public safety. By following stringent safety guidelines and training team members to properly dispose of biohazardous waste, we believe that we’ve appropriately addressed this public safety concern.

Finally, in the laboratory, student researchers work with reagents that could potentially be harmful to the environment. To avoid exposing the environment to these dangerous chemicals, we take extra precaution to follow laboratory protocol in the disposal of materials.

2. Do any of the new BioBrick parts (or devices) that you made this year raise any safety issues?

We do not anticipate that our BioBricks™ will raise any safety issues.

3. Is there a local biosafety group, committee, or review board at your institution?

The Division of Research Safety (DRS) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign implements and oversees safety programs and regulations dealing with the risk involved in handling biological, chemical, and radiological hazards all across campus, and reports to the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research. All researchers are required to pass a General Laboratory Safety exam before starting their work. In addition, members of our team have also acquired additional certification from the Biological Safety section of the DRS, as well as the Institute of Genomic Biology itself, where we have our lab space.

The Biological Safety section of the DRS includes the Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC). The IBC oversees the safe handling and disposal of biological materials, including recombinant DNA. New research projects need to be registered and approved through the IBC. This includes approving all personnel involved in the project, as well as a project description

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?

At this time, we have not yet come up with ideas regarding biosafety engineering.

Tell us more about your project. Give us background. Use this is the abstract of your project. Be descriptive but concise (1-2 paragraphs)