Team:XHD-Wuhan-China/Safety

Safety training

In preparation, we received General Laboratory Safety Training, Hazardous Waste Management, and general chemical hygiene from researchers in the office of Environmental Health and safety at the Huazhong Agricultural University.

1. We had been taught the characteristics, such as toxicity and harmfulness, of each reactants, chemical materials and sample organisms.

2. We improved our skills of using equipment and machines in laboratory in order to ensure the procedures can be carried out smoothly and avoid possible accidents during operation of experiment.

3. Advisors mentioned us about the basic rules in laboratory.

i. Do not take food and drinks into laboratory.

ii. Do not touch the apparatus without wearing gloves.

iii. Do not watch the ultraviolet sterilization directly without any precautions.

Safety

Some of the laboratory equipment we use, especially glassware, is dangerous if it breaks, and some of the reagents we use are toxic and skin/eye irritants. When using samples of E.coli, possible contamination can occur on equipment, and it may cause disease on experimenters. Then we should wear gloves, goggles and lab coats.

We resuscitated MG1655 and CP plasmid in the ultra-clean workbench, which not only guaranteed that the bacteria would not be infected by other bacteria unrelated to the experiment, but also guaranteed that the bacteria would be isolated. Also, we separated the contaminated area and the operation area clearly, which can be a barrier working as a strong safety precaution for experimenters.

Safety goals

1. Before doing the experiment, assess the risks of reagents, microorganisms, materials we used, and the substances produced during the experiment, and design the protective measures in advance.

2. During the experiment, using standard laboratory safety techniques to reduce the possibilities of the result errors and the dangers of experiments and in order to ensure the procedures can be carried out smoothly.

3. During the experiment, wearing protective clothing such as gloves, masks, and lab coats to reduce the possible risks of infections and injuries caused by chemical substances and sample bacteria used in the experiment.

4. Any pathogens used in experiment such as bacteria should not be taken out of the lab in order to avoid possible spreading of disease. The waste materials and samples should be manage properly to protect environment.

5. Following all iGEM’s safety and security rules along with all terms mentioned above.

Lab protocol

1. Don’t bring food and drinks into laboratory.

2. We should always wear gloves, lab coats, goggles and masks when doing experiments.

3. Sterilize equipment before doing experiments by using ethanol.

4. There must be professional supervision during all parts of the experiment.

5. The waste one-off equipment should not be used again.

6. Pay attention to use pipette vertically rather than horizontally.

7. Waste reagents and the reagents after contacting with air should not be put back into original container.

8. Waste materials and reactants should be collected together.

9. After experiment, any reactants and waster samples should be collected together.

10. The environment of laboratory after experiment should be cleaned up again by using ethanol.

11. Students should be familiar with procedures.

12. The cover of containers should be closed immediately after taking samples and reagents we needed

13. We should at least wear precautions when suing Ultraviolet machine

Facility security

Our experiments are carried out in a professional laboratory, in Huazhong Agriculture University. We have accessed to super clean bench to ensure our safety and reduce the experiment errors which may cause exposures of bacteria solution we used. The laboratory has perfect exhaust pipe, gloves and other safety protection equipment, and all meet the medical inspection standards. We have been guided by professionals to ensure the safe implementation of the experiment, the surrounding community and environment.

Further consideration

We decided to use non-pathogenic E.coli as our sample organism. After the experiment, all cultures contained or exposed to this strain are sterilized by using medical ethanol.All the reagents used do not pollute the environment. All wastes that could cause contamination must be properly disposed of and unified professional procedures are used. During the experiment, the final project was evaluated taking into account road safety and new potential pollution, so as not to infect or pollute the environment.

Moreover, after the end of our experiment, gloves, masks and waste liquid generated will be uniformly discarded into the medical waste, so as to prevent environmental pollution and the leakage of bacteria in the laboratory.