Safety

Our lab is an extension of the Lynch Lab, and as such follows Biosafety Level 1 requirements and guidelines laid out by the CDC "for work involving well-characterized agents not known to consistently cause disease in immunocompetent adult humans, and present minimal potential hazard to laboratory personnel and the environment" (CDC guidelines). These guidelines include such basic precautions as washing hands before and after labwork, wearing gloves, waste decontamination, and separated disposals of sharps, glassware, and biohazard waste.

Safety Training

As an extension of the Lynch Lab, we are also under the supervision of the Duke Occupational and Environmental Safety Office (DOESO); all members of the Duke iGEM team completed requisite safety training through the DOESO in General Laboratory Safety, Chemical Safety, and Fire and Life Safety before beginning work in the lab. More information on this training can be found on the DOESO website and the Duke Laboratory Safety Manual.

Safe Lab Work

In lab, we routinely wore gloves, disinfected bench tops and fume hoods with ethanol, and kept a separation between personal possessions and gloves-only laboratory items. Hands were washed upon leaving laboratory. The only sharps used routinely in this work were razor blades for gel extractions, which were disposed of appropriately in labeled plastic biohazard sharps bins. Biohazard waste was double-bagged in autoclave-safe biohazard waste bags and autoclaved periodically.