Team:Danzi Kesh 8/Safety
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SAFETY
Lab Location
The lab we worked in belongs to a serious research institute in Northern Israel. Migal Institute engages in scientific developments related to the field of food and agriculture. The scientific complex follows very strict and clear guidelines on lab regulations and meticulous safety in order to look after the welfare of the workers, students, pupils, and visitors who come to visit the laboratory.
Responsible for lab safety is the Safety Officer; however, all personnel follow the strict and clear rules and regulations when working in the lab.
Laboratory workers safety
There is great importance on how the lab workers have to take care of their own personal safety and their working environment. To do so, it is essential to make sure everyone understands the instructions and work accordingly and in unity. Our work was done at the Migal Institute (a research institute that works in cooperation with the Tel Hai College).
The Migal laboratory like other research laboratories - all laboratory personnel without exception must wear a gown, gloves and closed shoes, wash their hands with soap before starting work and at the end. No employees are allowed to leave the lab with lab gloves. The reason is clear and understandable - the employee's contact with the glove on the door handles and computer keys can be problematic for work in the laboratory. At the beginning and end of the day’s activity, the desktop has to be sterilized in order to avoid biological and chemical contaminants in the lab. This is important for worker protection and the processes involved in the laboratory.
Work with hazardous materials is done only in designated areas and there is a clear understanding that there is no moving the equipment from the areas, this is in order to protect other staff members working in the lab.
Waste materials are put in suitable containers so they can be handled properly. Biological materials (products of activities with microorganisms) are sterilized by autoclaving. Other chemicals are removed to a suitable site. It is of course not allowed to move materials to the wrong place, such action can be critical.
Laboratory work was done strictly according to the protocol, therefore the use of laboratory equipment were used exactly as instructed. The Safety Officer on behalf of the Migal Institute gave us all a safety training and made sure we followed the rules for the sake and safety of all.
How the living material was treated (microorganisms or Bio bricks) to prevent danger to those around
Obtaining biological materials is done very carefully while storing the materials according to instructions and in the appropriate place. Each of the materials was stored in the designated refrigerator and the correct temperature in order to ensure that is kept safe without having to go through changes by itself.
The biological materials we worked with in the laboratory where we were guests were of a low risk level biosafety (as organism level 1) and do not require special protection apart from a cloak, closed shoes and gloves. There was no need for us to work under a hood, only at the table.
Bacteria - A minor but potential danger to the general public from this project as well as many others is the possible uncontrolled release of antibiotic resistance E. coli. We have minimized the range of antibiotics used in our project to ampicillin and hloramphenicol.
Combined with the fact that the strains of E. coli we used carry no other antibiotics resistance, the risk of them surviving in nature and passing on the different plasmids is extremely small. If the bacteria were to survive in nature containing a plasmid from the different experiments we held, it would most likely be outcompeted by the naturally occurring and better adapted E. coli strains. Another important fact is that E. coli was used in our experiments only as a method to propagate plasmids, the plasmids themselves never contained bacterial promoters for our transgenes, and even if they did, all the proteins they translate into are harmless protein.
Each test tube or any vessel had the contents labelled accurately and an organized register of biological materials stored in refrigeration was performed - content, filling date, etc...
As stated it is important that the rules relating to evacuation of waste as well as maintaining a sterile work as much as possible be kept. Sending the bio bricks to the Igem library was executed precisely as per insstructions published on the contest website.
Dealing with safety issues in the future within the framework of Igem competition
Safety measures were published only in June over a month after the start of work for the competition, during which the contestants were in the midst of planning their laboratory project. In our opinion it is important to introduce the safety issue and the difficulties that may arise during the work on the project. For new young teams like us, lacking academic laboratory experience, it is important to highlight the need to ensure the personal safety of candidates and those around them, and make an intelligent or rational choice of biological material they choose to work with.
To Conclude
It is important to be aware of the safety rules before entering the laboratory and in the case of a lack of knowledge, just ask.
There is no way out of maintaining constant alertness in the safety area while working on experiments.
The laboratory work strengthened the need to develop responsibility in safety to yourself and those around you. In fact everyone routinely relies on everybody and therefore it is a must to observe the safety rules and regulations.