Laboratory equipment can be dangerous if users are unaware of the potential safety hazard. Thus, we strive to make sure our team members have a solid understanding before we operate.

Safety Considerations of our Project Design

Organisms:

• We did not use any living horseshoe crabs for our project as our work has been completed using solely bacteria: E. Coli and Bacillus subtilis 3NA.
• Some strains of E. Coli can sometimes cause food poisoning. Considering the potential detrimental health effect, we used the E. Coli strain DH5-alpha, which is unharmful for humans.
• The other strain of bacteria that we frequently work with is Bacillus Subtilis 3NA, which is also not considered pathogenic to humans.
• All of our used plates are disposed in appropriate bio-hazard containers, and our cell cultures are bleached to avoid the spread of laboratory anti-biotics and bacteria.

Lab Safety:
Although we do not wear lab coats and goggles for most of the time, we have strict rules on attire. We wear closed-toed shoes, wear gloves, and wash our hands thoroughly before we leave the lab. In addition, we never eat/drink on the bench, and ensure that we clean up our lab space after each day.