Team:iTesla-SoundBio/Project/Safety

Safety Protocols
InterLab
Team Members Attributions
Human Practices Collaborations
Project Description Design Results Biobrick Parts Lab Notebook
iT-SB 2018 iT-SB 2017

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 they operate.

Safety Considerations of our Project Design

Organisms:

  • We didn’t 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 don’t wear lab coats and goggles for most of the time, we 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.