Difference between revisions of "Team:Hong Kong HKUST/Safety"

OVERVIEW

HKUST iGEM understands the risk of working in the lab and intends to take all necessary measurements and precautions to prioritize the safety of our iGEM members. Following this matter, we have assigned the following procedures below. Our complete safety can also be found here.

LABORATORY SAFETY CONCERN

Our project utilizes the same machine with gel using ethidium bromide in the gel electrophoresis screening, a carcinogenic substance that is very harmful. We use blue light for gel visualization. Our project also involves media culture with antibiotics that can be lethal in large amount. We once used midori green in the process of gel making. For sterilization, we use ethanol 70% that can be dangerous in large doses in the long term.

SAFETY PROTOCOL

During the wet lab, all lab members were instructed to always wear disposable nitrile gloves, closed-toe shoes, long pants, use eyes protection under the blue light gel visualization. Gloves are disposed each time we finished the lab. The glasses used in the experiments must be washed everyday after use. All the biohazard waste is autoclaved and transported to another facility which is responsible for regulating the biological wastes. Hand soap with antibacterial protection is provided to wash our hand thoroughly. Each module has one person in charge to better ensure the safety.

All the reagents and materials are kept in a safe container with specific sign and precautions to handle. Each tube is labeled and sealed off before putting it together with other reagents. We put our media culture in a different refrigerator from the regular substance to prevent any unwanted reagents from contamination. We always maintained a clean workplace and tidied up after use. HKUST laboratories hold biosafety level 2. Our lab is also equipped with biosafety cabinet with HEPA filter, first aid kit, fire extinguisher, flame-retardant benches, spill kits, safety showers and eye-washer. When working in the wet lab, our advisor, Dr. Jessica Tang, always presents to assist.

SAFETY ORGANISMS

Our experiment is entirely safe, involving no pathogenic materials, environmental release and animal/human testing. We use Escherichia coli DH5 alpha as our chassis organism. From a recent study, E. coli DH5 alpha has been determined that it lacks several genes for known E. coli pathogenicity factors. We also use Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 in our experiment and it has been also shown no harmful effect to human nor the environment in the literature. Both bacteria are grouped under the risk group 1.

TRAINING AND ENFORCEMENT

Training : All team members who work in the wet lab must have completed the safety training organized by Health, Safety, and Environment Office (HSEO) at the HKUST by completing a theoretical test regarding the safety concern.
The safety training we learnt :
-Biological Safety
-Chemical Safety I – Chemical Safety for Laboratory Users
-Chemical Safety II – Hazardous Waste Management
More information about the safety training can be found here

University Safety: Laboratory safety in HKUST is regulated by the Health, Safety, and Environment Office (HSEO).
More information about HSEO of HKUST can be found here (http://www.ab.ust.hk/hseo/)