Difference between revisions of "Team:Cooper Union/Safety"

 
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<li class="menu"> <a class="menu" href="https://2015.igem.org/Team:Cooper_Union/DeNovoSynthesis">De Novo Synthesis </a></li>
 
<li class="menu"> <a class="menu" href="https://2015.igem.org/Team:Cooper_Union/DeNovoSynthesis">De Novo Synthesis </a></li>
<li class="menu"> <a class="menu" href="https://2015.igem.org/Team:Cooper_Union/Loomino_Description">Loomino</a> </li>
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<li class="menu"> <a class="menu" href="https://2015.igem.org/Team:Cooper_Union/Loomino_Description">Loomino Design</a> </li>
 
<li class="menu"> <a class="menu" href="https://2015.igem.org/Team:Cooper_Union/Experiments">Experiments and Protocols </a></li>
 
<li class="menu"> <a class="menu" href="https://2015.igem.org/Team:Cooper_Union/Experiments">Experiments and Protocols </a></li>
 
<li class="menu"> <a class="menu" href="https://2015.igem.org/Team:Cooper_Union/Results">Results </a> </li>
 
<li class="menu"> <a class="menu" href="https://2015.igem.org/Team:Cooper_Union/Results">Results </a> </li>
<li class="menu"> <a class="menu" href="https://2015.igem.org/Team:Cooper_Union/Design">Design </a></li>
 
 
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<h2>Safety in iGEM</h2>
 
<h2>Safety in iGEM</h2>
  
<p>Please visit <a href="https://2015.igem.org/Safety">the main Safety page</a> to find this year's safety requirements & deadlines, and to learn about safe & responsible research in iGEM.</p>
 
  
<p>On this page of your wiki, you should write about how you are addressing any safety issues in your project. The wiki is a place where you can <strong>go beyond the questions on the safety forms</strong>, and write about whatever safety topics are most interesting in your project. (You do not need to copy your safety forms onto this wiki page.)</p>
 
  
  
<h4>Safe Project Design</h4>
 
  
<p>Does your project include any safety features? Have you made certain decisions about the design to reduce risks? Write about them here! For example:</p>
 
 
<ul>
 
<li>Choosing a non-pathogenic chassis</li>
 
<li>Choosing parts that will not harm humans / animals / plants</li>
 
<li>Substituting safer materials for dangerous materials in a proof-of-concept experiment</li>
 
<li>Including an "induced lethality" or "kill-switch" device</li>
 
</ul>
 
  
 
<h4>Safe Lab Work</h4>
 
<h4>Safe Lab Work</h4>
  
<p>All work for this project was done in Cooper Union’s Kanbar Laboratory.  This lab is classified as biosafety level 1.  Either a professor or a lab technician was present at all times while we were in the lab. Standard lab safety practices were followed during all protocols. The lab was separated into a wetware space and a hardware space to prevent contamination.  While working in the wetware space, nitrile or latex gloves were worn at all times. Biological wastes were disposed of in proper containers.</p>
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<p>All work for this project was done in Cooper Union’s Kanbar Laboratory.  Here is some relavant information about our lab!</p>
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<h5>What is the safety level of your lab?</h5>
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<p>Level 1 (Low Risk)</p>
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<h5>Which work area do you use to handle biological materials?</h5>
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<p>Open Bench</p>
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 +
<h5>Have your team members received any safety training yet?</h5>
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<p>Yes we have received safety training in the lab. The safety protocols that were covered fall under standard laboratory good practices. This includes no food and drink in our BSL1 laboratory, wearing nitrile gloves during experiments, minimization of aerosols, and the location of safety equipment such as eye wash stations. </p>
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<h5> Who is responsible for the safety of biology labs at your institution? What are the guidelines for laboratory biosafety? </h5>
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<p>Dr. Alan Wolf is responsible for the safety of all laboratory facilities at The Cooper Union. Our laboratory adheres to the guidelines for BSL1 laboratories found in: http://www.cdc.gov/biosafety/publications/bmbl5/BMBL.pdf.</p>
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<h5>In your country / region, what are the laws and regulations that govern biosafety in research laboratories?</h5>
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<p>Please refer to these links: http://www.cdc.gov/biosafety/publications/bmbl5/BMBL.pdf and http://osp.od.nih.gov/office-biotechnology-activities/rdna/nih_guidelines_oba.html. </p>
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<h5>What risks does your project pose at the laboratory stage? What actions are you taking to reduce those risks?</h5>
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<p>Presently there are only minimal risks associated with our project within a laboratory setting. We are working solely with K-12 derived strains of E. coli as a means for cloning our constructs and for expressing variants of the enzyme TdT, which itself has no known toxicity. All experiments are being performed in strict accordance with BSL1 guidelines and recombinant DNA guidelines as outlined in:http://osp.od.nih.gov/office-biotechnology-activities/rdna/nih_guidelines_oba.html and http://www.cdc.gov/biosafety/publications/bmbl5/index.htm</p>
  
<h4>Safe Shipment</h4>
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<h5>What risks might your project pose, if it were fully developed into a real product that real people could use? What future work might you do to reduce those risks?</h5>
 +
<p>If it were a fully developed product their may be considerable risk involved in individuals or groups being capable of synthesizing DNA simply and rapidly. This would definitely lower the barrier to entry considerably for anyone that may be interested in designing synthetic DNA for illegal purposes, such as toxin production outside of an approved research setting.</p>
  
<p>Did you face any safety problems in sending your DNA parts to the Registry? How did you solve those problems?</p>
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<h5>Any further comments about your project:</h5>
 +
<p>Besides the potential for creating DNA that may lead to the development of hazardous compounds and/or organisms, the ability to essentially make any sequence rapidly may make it more challenging to protect intellectual property.
 +
We addressed some of those concerns in a "white paper" that we posted on our iGEM 2014 website. This was a transcript of a round table discussion that we had, involving an outside professional in the field of software, to provide comparative insights.</p>
  
  
 
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Latest revision as of 21:47, 18 September 2015

Cooper Union 2015 iGEM




Safety in iGEM

Safe Lab Work

All work for this project was done in Cooper Union’s Kanbar Laboratory. Here is some relavant information about our lab!

What is the safety level of your lab?

Level 1 (Low Risk)

Which work area do you use to handle biological materials?

Open Bench

Have your team members received any safety training yet?

Yes we have received safety training in the lab. The safety protocols that were covered fall under standard laboratory good practices. This includes no food and drink in our BSL1 laboratory, wearing nitrile gloves during experiments, minimization of aerosols, and the location of safety equipment such as eye wash stations.

Who is responsible for the safety of biology labs at your institution? What are the guidelines for laboratory biosafety?

Dr. Alan Wolf is responsible for the safety of all laboratory facilities at The Cooper Union. Our laboratory adheres to the guidelines for BSL1 laboratories found in: http://www.cdc.gov/biosafety/publications/bmbl5/BMBL.pdf.

In your country / region, what are the laws and regulations that govern biosafety in research laboratories?

Please refer to these links: http://www.cdc.gov/biosafety/publications/bmbl5/BMBL.pdf and http://osp.od.nih.gov/office-biotechnology-activities/rdna/nih_guidelines_oba.html.

What risks does your project pose at the laboratory stage? What actions are you taking to reduce those risks?

Presently there are only minimal risks associated with our project within a laboratory setting. We are working solely with K-12 derived strains of E. coli as a means for cloning our constructs and for expressing variants of the enzyme TdT, which itself has no known toxicity. All experiments are being performed in strict accordance with BSL1 guidelines and recombinant DNA guidelines as outlined in:http://osp.od.nih.gov/office-biotechnology-activities/rdna/nih_guidelines_oba.html and http://www.cdc.gov/biosafety/publications/bmbl5/index.htm

What risks might your project pose, if it were fully developed into a real product that real people could use? What future work might you do to reduce those risks?

If it were a fully developed product their may be considerable risk involved in individuals or groups being capable of synthesizing DNA simply and rapidly. This would definitely lower the barrier to entry considerably for anyone that may be interested in designing synthetic DNA for illegal purposes, such as toxin production outside of an approved research setting.

Any further comments about your project:

Besides the potential for creating DNA that may lead to the development of hazardous compounds and/or organisms, the ability to essentially make any sequence rapidly may make it more challenging to protect intellectual property. We addressed some of those concerns in a "white paper" that we posted on our iGEM 2014 website. This was a transcript of a round table discussion that we had, involving an outside professional in the field of software, to provide comparative insights.