Team:OhioState/Safety
Safety
Lab Safety
In dealing with any microbe, safety is of the utmost importance. These cells, tiny as they are, can become a problem if they’re released from a secure, contained environment. Without lab access, this year had less of a focus on physical safety than usual. We didn’t have to worry about potential pathogenicity or toxicity of our samples, because we didn’t have any!
COVID-19 Safety
We were, however, concerned about the global pandemic, and changed our plans accordingly: We had originally planned to develop and test biocontainment systems as proof of our project, as well as to refine our models. Once we realized the severity of the situation caused by Sars-Cov2, we cancelled all of our in-person plans and shifted our focus to what we could do online. Our university has officially allowed student groups to meet in person again, but we still feel that this would be an unnecessary safety risk.
Biocontainment Safety
Something non-physical that we did have to worry about, however, is proper usage of our project’s information. The biocontainment systems in our database, while effective in their purpose to make microbes more secure, aren’t perfect. Theoretically, evolution can break a microbe out of any genetic chains we put it in! This is why we developed our standardized protocols and measurements; now, every biocontainment system can be tested to determine the likelihood of it surviving outside of where it’s supposed to be.
Our educational media also states this, because it’s important that the public knows that biocontainment isn’t flawless. We can’t falsely advertise that biocontainment will immediately fix the safety issues of synthetic biology and expect to be trusted, after all.
Lastly, we’ve created guidelines on how to use and design biocontainment systems with safety in mind: some cellular toxins are hazardous to humans or other animals. We’ve also emphasized that biocontainment should never be the only safety measure in a synthetic biology product. Physical containment, safe strains, and all other safety measures should also be used when possible.