More/Why Safety

dear rest of HQ, I know this needs editing, I'm working on it -- Kelly

iGEM teams must act responsibly in the lab, and must use good judgment when choosing project topics and designing their projects. Teams must follow all biosafety rules of their host institutions, and all biosafety laws of their countries/regions.

iGEM teams enjoy the freedom to choose their own project topics and direct their own research with very few restrictions. They are also part of the public face of synthetic biology. As such, they have a responsibility to consider the potential consequences of their work, both now and in the future. Our best teams pride themselves on going "beyond the call of duty" in this area.

All teams must complete certain safety forms (exact requirements will be announced at the end of February). In addition, all teams should review the organisms and genetic parts they plan to use, looking for potential safety concerns. Organisms and parts that appear on the White List may be used freely. If you want to use an organism/part that is not on the White List, you must submit a Check-In.

The various safety forms help teams communicate with iGEM Headquarters to ensure they are working safely in the lab. In particular, the Check-In requirement ensures iGEM Headquarters is aware of the most dangerous organisms and parts that are being used by teams. If we know about potential safety issues ahead of time, we can address them easily, rather than finding "safety surprises" at the Jamboree and responding in haste and panic.

(Almost all Check-Ins are approved without requiring any change to the team's plans.)

The team PI (principal investigator) is responsible for supervising the team's laboratory work, for ensuring that all organisms and parts are used safely, and for attesting to the accuracy of the Final Safety Form contents. Visit the Safety page for more details and (tentative) deadlines.

The team PI holds the legal responsibility for each team's lab safety. For legal reasons, we require the PI's signature on the Final Safety Form.

iGEM teams are not permitted to use Risk Group 3 or 4 organisms, or to work in Safety Level 3 or 4 laboratories.
We encourage teams to find safer substitutes for these dangerous organisms, or to choose alternate project topics.

Risk Groups 3 and 4 include the most serious and deadly pathogens in the world. They require extremely stringent safety precautions and specialized lab facilities. There is no compelling reason for any iGEM team to choose to work with Risk Group 3 or 4 organisms, when instead they could choose from the vast array of interesting project topics that use only Risk Group 1 or 2 organisms.

Using safer substitutes for dangerous organisms is entirely appropriate for iGEM. For example, the 2013 Paris Bettencourt team studied tuberculosis. Mycobacterium tuberculosis is a Risk Group 3 organism, so for safety reasons, they substituted a related Risk Group 2 organism (Mycobacterium smegmatis) in their experiments. These experiments were a proof of principle for their project ideas.