Team:IISER-Bhopal-India/Biosafety
Introduction
According to “Bio-safety Manual for Public Health Laboratories” published by Ministry of Health, Govt. Of India, “Laboratory bio-safety” is the term used to describe the containment principles, technologies and practices that are implemented to prevent unintentional exposure to pathogens and toxins, or their accidental release. ”
Our workspace- the Undergraduate Biology Lab is a Biosafety Level 1 lab, which means that none of the reagents used in the lab are known to be pathogenic in healthy humans. We nevertheless followed all BSL-1 precautions while working. One of our main priorities was to ensure that appropriate Bio-safety Measures were taken by complying with the Institute’s General Laboratory Safety Policies and iGEM’s Safety and Security Rules.
Handling our GMOs
Since the core of Synthetic Biology lies in genetically modifying organisms, it is necessary to look out for risk factors like their accidental release and infection of investigators. All organisms used for our experiments are non-pathogenic organisms, well studied and established. We transformed Escherichia coli (DH5-alpha) and Pichia pastoris (GS115) several times during our experiments hence conferring new properties to these microbes. Autoclaving our microbial waste, adding 10% NaOH solution to our liquid waste before disposal, washing our hands before leaving the laboratory, sterilizing our workspace with 70% ethanol before and after working with the microbes are few measures we took to ensure aseptic lab conditions and prevent accidental release of microbes in the outside environment. Furthermore, we ensured that while working, less experienced team members were initially accompanied by team members that had more experience.
Handling chemicals and equipment
Additional risks involved in this scenario are related to the chemicals used during the experiments, such as Ethidium Bromide (EtBr). EtBr is used as a marker for visualizing nucleic acids in gel electrophoresis. It is mutagenic and hence was stored, handled and disposed of properly, avoiding risks to people who worked with it. We used special protective masks in order to protect our eyes from the UV Light while analyzing gels. Cryogenic gloves were used to handle liquid Nitrogen while preparing competent E. coli cells. The use of certain machines in the laboratory posed some risks as well, for example, the use of big centrifuges, autoclaves, metal heaters and water baths, which if mishandled could cause harm to the investigators.
Biosafety meeting
To discuss the growing need and importance of safe lab practices in research, our PIs and Dr. Sunando Datta helped us arrange a meeting with Dr. Vimlesh Kumar- Chairman of our Institutional Bio-safety Committee and Dr. Harshad Murugkar - Bio-safety Officer in the presence of Dr. Himanshu Kumar- Lab In-charge.
The meeting comprised of :
The meeting opened up discussions for us to incorporate a kill-switch in MethNote, in case of accidents, by using Cre-LoxP system. We plan to set MethNote’s future course by incorporating these ideas and by being mindful about any other safety concerns that may arise along the process.
Safe Shipment
The shipment guidelines for iGEM 2018 Sample Submission were thoroughly followed while submitting our three parts (BBa_K2790004, BBa_K2790005 BBa_K2790006) to the Registry to protect our submissions from delays or blockages.
