Safety

Researcher Safety

Our project involves manipulating the CRISPR pathway as a gene regulation tool. The CRISPR system is naturally present in many prokaryotes and nearly all archea. Introducing a CRISPR locus into a non-CRISPR organism has the potential to increase its resistance to phages. This is unlikely to have a significant effect on pathogenicity, especially in experiments in which the genes involved in incorporation of new spacers (CAS1 and CAS2) are removed. All strains used in the lab (E. coli as well as B. halodurans) are common lab strains. Appropriate biosafety level 2 precautions are taken.