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Safety

Key Questions about safety

1. Would the materials used in your project and/or your final product pose:

   1. Risks to the safety and health of team members or others in the lab?

      No. Our project uses non-pathogenic organisms as well as widely used attenuated laboratory strains. When used under very general biosafety measures, such as the use of safety cabins, adequate clothing, and the sterilization of residues prior to disposal, they are completely safe. Similarly, hazardous materials are handled according to general safety procedures. All lab members are trained on the health and safety procedure prior to the start of the lab work.

   2. Risks to the safety and health of the general public if released by design or accident?

      No. None of the organisms used in this project or their products are known to pose a risk to human health even if released accidentally.

   3. Risks to environmental quality if released by design or accident?

      No. Our project does not imply the use or production of any products potentially hazardous for the environment. As the release of genetically modified organisms, including those bearing antibiotic resistance genes, even if they are not pathogens, is generally considered a potential threat to environmental quality. As stated above, care will be taken to ensure the correct disposal of genetically engineered organisms. In addition, the use of laboratory strains ensures very low survival rates in the environment.

   4. Risks to security through malicious misuse by individuals, groups or states?

      No, none of the organisms, chemicals or genetic traits used in this project represent a potential use to security even through malicious use.

   Specifically, are any parts or devices in your project associated with (or known to cause):

   • pathogenicity, infectivity, or toxicity?

     No. None of the parts and devices, including protein-coding genes, regulatory elements, vectors and transposons are related in any form to pathogenicity, toxicity or infectious processes.

   • threats to environmental quality?

     No. None of the parts and devices, including protein-coding genes, regulatory elements, vectors and transposons are known or suspected to impact environmental quality.

   • security concerns?

     No. None of the parts and devices, including protein-coding genes, regulatory elements, vectors and transposons are in any form suspicious to raise security concerns

2. If your response to any of the questions above is yes:

   1. Explain how you addressed these issues in project design and while conducting laboratory work.
   2. Describe and document safety, security, health and/or environmental issues as you submit your parts to the Registry.

3. Under what biosafety provisions will / do you operate?

   1. Does your institution have its own biosafety rules and if so what are they? Provide a link to them online if possible.

      Yes; working at CABD, a research institute owned by UPO and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), we operate under CSIC’s regulations concerning several biosafety topics such as animal experimentation or researchers and environmental protection. These guidelines are available at the following link: http://www.csic.es/web/guest/normativa

   2. 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.

      There is no such thing in UPO or CABD. We follow the CSIC´s biosafety guidelines as indicated above

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

      Yes, we were informed of the CSIC’s biosafety guidelines, and received a short lab training course on the handling of common chemicals and microbes, including E.coli and S.pombe among others. Our work was supervised at all times by CABD and UPO researchers.

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

      We are not aware of any nationwide applicable biosafety guidelines, but research institutions such as CSIC enforce their own biosafety measures. Other than that, we adhere to the UE Directive 2009/41/EC on the appropriate handling of genetically modified organisms.

4. 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?
   • Minimize the use of antibiotic resistances to those strictly necessary.
   • Make a complete characterization of all the produced substances to avoid dangerous secretions.
   • Implement a simple self-destruction pathway in the biological chassis, available at the iGEM parts registry, which can be easily activated under desired conditions.