Team:Nanjing-China/Safety
Chassis organisms
The organisms we are dealing with are E.coli BL21 or JM109.Both of them are in Risk Group 1 and can cause no disease to healthy adults. E.coli is the most studied gram-negative bacterium and a widely-used model organism in synthetic biology.
However, the engineered bacteria may pose some small risks to people’s health and the environment if released into the real world. Therefore, we have strict rules to prevent this from happening. The waste produced in the lab are periodically collected, sterilized and categorized by our team members and then recycled by professional chemical recycling staffs in our institute. Thus, it is unlikely that these genetically modified organisms can escape the lab.
Laboratory safety
Our experiments are mainly in molecular level, so that the risks are primarily caused by some chemical and molecular biology reagents. To minimize these risks, we put the dangerous reagents in proper storage, and carry out special procedures when dealing with them. For example, cadmium ion, a toxic substance, is involved for CdS precipitation. We rigorously recycle the sewage containing Cd ion every time handling it.
Another safety concern comes from the inflammable and explosive acetylene we use to test the activity of nitrogenase. The gas cylinders which contains acetylene are operated appropriately and inspected regularly by professional security staffs to avoid gas leakage.
Training and enforcement
All team members have received systematical biosafety training from relevant courses in advance. We all possess the skills in waste disposal, accident prevention, emergency handling and so on. During our experiments, we stringently observed the biosafety guidelines issued by our university and WHO. For example, we ensure electrical safety by connecting wires in proper way and turning off all the power switches before leaving the lab.
Address
Life Science Department
#163 Xianlin Blvd, Qixia District
Nanjing University
Nanjing, Jiangsu Province
P.R. of China
Zip: 210046
