Team:ULaval/Safety




Safety
Safe Project Design
Our team chose two non-pathogenic chassis (E. coli MC1061, S. cerevisiae) to arbor our genetic elements. Both present little to no biosafety and security treat, are widely used in laboratories around the world and are part of the white list provided by the iGEM organisation.

The chemical intermediates (L-DOPA, dopamine and noradrenaline) and the final product (adrenaline) synthetised in our project all present a certain level of safety risk1–4. None of these could be replace by a safer alternative. Suitable safety measures were applied to minimize the risk of student and environment exposure to those harmful components.

In brief, the design of our project is not problematic in term of safety and security. We are not aware of other alternatives that could reduce the risks any lower.


Safe Lab Work
All experiments were conducted in biosafety level-1 laboratories located inside the Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Bioinformatics of Laval University. Manipulations were carried under the supervision of trained laboratory technicians and under the regulations of the Canadian Public Health guidelines and those of Université Laval5,6. Every person working in the laboratories must also wear laboratory personal protective equipment, including a lab coat, closed-toe shoes, gloves, eye wear and respiratory protection when needed.


Training
Only authorized personnel, who followed appropriate training, are allowed into the laboratories. Therefore, all members of the team involved in the scientific aspects of the project followed the mandatory trainings regarding biosafety and security provided by the university. Undergraduate students were also supervised by graduate students to ensure that appropriate safety procedures were applied.


Biohazard waste management
All biohazard wastes produced during this project were treated separately from all other waste generated in the laboratories. All the liquid cultures were treated with bleach prior to being discarded and Petri dishes containing genetically modified organisms were taken care by the biosafety service provided by the university.


Chemical safety of adrenaline
Adrenaline is classified as a hazardous chemical, since it can be toxic if swallowed or inhaled and fatal in contact with skin4. Hence, this product was manipulated under a chemical hood while wearing appropriate laboratory personal protective equipment to ensure the security of every student and to protect the environment.


Laval University Laboratories
The Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Bioinformatics of Laval University builded new laboratories in the past year. Therefore, both the old and new ones were used during the project. They are rated biosafety level-1 and contain the similar security and safety equipment. Also, the department builded a level-2 laboratory that will be available to us for the years to come.

Level 1 :








Level 2 :







Safe Shipment
We have not been able to produce RFC10 compatible parts, but we are working on it. However, for part sending, we already looked into the shipment of packages through the Prevention and Security Service of our university6. They handle and homologate packages according to a set of rules established by the Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act from the Government of Canada to ease the transfer of dangerous products and biological material, such as DNA7.


References
1. Extrasynthese. MATERIAL SAFETY DATA SHEET - DOPAC.
2. SAFETY DATA SHEET - L-DOPA.
3. SIGMA-ALDRICH Fiche de Données de Sécurité / Fiche Signalétique.
4. Ward’s science. Safety Data Sheet - Adrenaline.
5. Government of Canada. Canadian Biosafety Standard (CBS) Second Edition - Canada.ca. (2015). Available at: https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/canadian-biosafety-standards-guidelines/second-edition.html. (Accessed: 5th October 2018)
6. Université Laval. Service de sécurité et de prévention de l’Université Laval. Available at: https://www.ssp.ulaval.ca/a-propos/. (Accessed: 5th October 2018)
7. Government of Canada. Transportation of Dangerous Goods Act, 1992 (1992, c. 34) - Transport Canada. Available at: http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/acts-regulations/acts-1992c34.htm. (Accessed: 5th October 2018)

igem@bcm.ulaval.ca