Safety |
- Team KUAS Korea understands the risks related to the experiment and takes all necessary precautions to minimize those risks. As a team, we have thoughtfully considered the safety issues during our lab project. Details are as follows.(completed safety form is linked here)
- To examine the evolutionary game model, we form a microbial population composed of the “cooperator” and the “cheater” using Escherichia coli BW25113. This host strain is a common laboratory strain that is classified as a risk group 1.
- The basic part that we submitted is beta-glucosidase. This enzyme is unlikely to be hazardous. It only displays on the surface of Escherichia coli BW25113 and breaks down cellobiose into glucose.
- When transforming GFP expression vector to the “cheater”, we use Escherichia coli DH5alpha to temporally store the vector. This host strain is a nonpathogenic species that is also classified as a risk group 1.
Most of the chemicals and materials we use are not dangerous. Although we do not deal with hazardous pathogenic organisms, we have always been aware of unforeseen problems during the experiment. We were cautious during every procedure and conducted experiments with our instructors. In order to prevent the dispersion of hazardous materials, we sterilize our experiment tools and biological materials.