Team:BIT-China/Safety

SAFETY

Every member of our team has been trained about general lab safety and project design safety by our previous members. For example, the former leader and our advisors taught us how to run the experiment correctly and avoid mistakes.

PROJECT DESIGN SAFETY

For the safety of our team members, we designed the project to be as safe as possible. The strains used in our project are escherichia coli and Saccharomyces cerevisiae commonly used in biological experiments, and we have trained the team members on the experimental precautions of biological inoculation, so as to make sure nothing is wrong.To match escherichia coli with Saccharomyces cerevisiae growth, we designed a new double oscillation culture system that is harmless to humans.

LAB SAFETY

Our team conducted research in a safety level 1 laboratory. The organisms we used, E. coli strain BL21( DE3),DH5α,T1 is suitable for safety level 1 laboratory we are working in. Besides, the plasmids we are using for transformation are not harmful for humans. Because of the nature of our project, contacting with microorganisms is inevitable. In order to avoid any harmful effects to each member of our team, all laboratory work was in accordance with the safety requirements for the laboratory. This includes, but is not limited to, the following examples:

(1) Eating, drinking and smoking are prohibited in the laboratory.

(2) Don’t deal with the wastes at will.

(3) All experimenters must wear protective equipment such as gloves and Lab coats.

(4) All equipments that come into contact with biological material (such as tips and glass glassware) must be autoclaved.

(5) Store quick-burning, flammable materials in designated locations which are away from ignition sources for fire protection. And there is no accumulated clutter in the hallway, for our safety while accident happening.

Laboratory for experiments, seminar rooms for research and discussion, and the office used to search for information and analyze data are rigorously divided. These provisions are intended to prevent the possibility of unnecessary cross-contamination in the laboratory.

DANGEROUS CHEMICALS

We tried to avoid the use of dangerous chemicals whenever possible. We have completely banned a number of dangerous chemicals, such as ethidium bromide which had been replaced by anthocyanin for our DNA gel electrophoresis. At the same time, we have restricted the use of dangerous chemicals (such as acrylamide) which must be clearly placed in marked areas in the laboratory. And we were also required to keep the chemistry reagents in classified storage.