Team:OUC-China/Safety

Team OUC-China: Main

Safety

Safety is the acutest problem when it comes to genetically modified organism. We figured this problem out from three aspects: Project design, Lab work and Shipment.

Project design

Being responsible for our earth and ourselves is our attitude towards every experiment. In our project, all the parts we have utilized are selected from Risk Group 1, none of which are with a Red Flag. What’s more, nonpathogenic bacteria, E.coli DH5 Alpha is employed as the main chassis for our prior design on the DNA sequence, stem-loop and enzyme. As a matter of fact, when using hairpins and csy4 enzyme to tune the expression of genes, it is relatively safe for industrialized applications and scientific research. Based on this, We designed more variants of csy4 enzymes and hairpins. （Click here to see more! ）So we used these to create a toolkit named miniToe family for synthetic biology which can control the expression of the target gene gradient. What’s more, we used the motA gene, one of the genes regulating the motility of E.coli, to verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the toolkit. For the sake of environment, all the chassis organisms will be sterilized before being abandoned to prevent the genes from leaking.

Safe lab work

We works at a neat lab named “Lab for Microinnovation and Enterprise”, which is a BSL-2 laboratory. Before working in the lab, we are supposed to be trained by the skillful hands, not only for the general lab safety rules, but also for the standard experimental operation avoiding unnecessary damage. No experiment carries no risk to the experimenters, hence we are properly equipped with facilities, such as latex gloves, nitrile gloves, goggles, lab coats to protect us from biotic and abiotic hazards.

Fig.1 Our laboratory and personal safety precautions

Then for lab safety, a routine inspection is performed twice a day by everyone, not only for ensuring normal operation of our lab like supplying experimental consumables and inspecting the running of instruments, but also keeps it away from non-biological hazards, especially the water and electricity. For high efficiency, responsibility implements to every team member.

Fig.2 Table for routine inspection

Furthermore, several operational zones are divided scientifically for special experiments like A zone where is weighing the drugs, preparing the medium and sterilizing, B zone where is the recording experimental note and organizing experimental data area, C zone where is a molecular operation area, D zone where is RNA electrophoresis and a polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis area.
For us, lab safety is a hot topic and we have come up with a practical lab safety manual which normalizes our lovely lab.

Practical lab safety manual

1.Routine inspections must perform between 6:30-8:00pm and 9:30-11:00pm.
2.Lab cleaning must be done twice a week with disinfectant moping the floor for at least 3times.
3.Well prepared experiment plans should be written before you start.
4.Lab coats and gloves must be worn when conducting experiments.
5.Short skirts, shorts, and open shoes must not be worn.
6.If you see a colleague doing something dangerous, point it out to him or her.
7.Lab coats must not be worn outside laboratories and in public areas.
8.Know where safety equipment (eyewash, shower and extinguisher) is located.
9.Food/drink is not allowed in laboratories where chemicals are used stored.
10.Always read the directions before using instruments and read MSDS before handling new chemicals carefully.

Fig.3 Safety operation

Safe shipment

For submitting our parts to igem HQ, we first took the initiative to consult Chinese entry-exit inspection and quarantine laws and regulations about shipping DNA from China to the USA, which is forbidden without tedious red tape. Fortunately, GenScript cooperated with igem HQ forward our part sample to the USA. Ergo, we sealed dried DNA and sent it in the submission kit to GenScript, which clearly labelled as DNA without disguise. Our kit poses no risks and is perfectly safe for shipment.

Safety form

Click here to check our safety form.