Team:FAFU-CHINA/Safety

Bio-safety is the prevention of large-scale loss of biological integrity, focusing both on ecology and human health. These prevention mechanisms include conduction of regular reviews of the bio-safety in laboratory settings, as well as strict guidelines to follow.

The chassis organisms we used for this project

Species name	Strain name	Risk Group	Disease risk to humans?
E.coli(K12)	DH5alpha	1	Yes. May cause irritation to skin, eyes, may affect kidneys. However, E.coli is not considered a human or animal pathogen nor is it toxic possibility
E.coli(K12)	HT115	1	Yes. May cause irritation to skin, eyes, and respiratory tract, may affect kidneys. However, HT115 has been proven that it is safe.

How did we ensure the general lab safety?

(1) Did our members can make sure the safety?

Our members were selected by a hard test. Therefore we had better basic knowledge of biology and we could pick up the regulation of the lab safety quickly.

(2) Did we have the safety training?

Just before starting the experiments, everyone had to take a safety training course. From the course,，we have learned a complete understanding of experimental risks associated with synthetic biology.

(2) How about the safety of our lab?

The design of laboratory, high security facilities and suitable personal safety precautions will ensure the lab safety.

Do the biological materials used in our lab work pose any of the following risks?

（1）Risks to the safety and health of team members or others working in the lab?

All the biological materials used in our lab are safe to the workers. Moreover every species we worked with belongs to BL1.

（2）Risks to the safety and health of the general public, if released by design or by accident?

Every species we worked with belongs to BL1. They are harmless to human.

（3）Risks to the environment, if released by design or by accident?

Every species we worked with belongs to BL1. They are harmless to the environment. In addition, we have designed a statistical system to ensure our genetically modified E. coli will not survive in the natural environment.

If our project moved from a small-scale lab study to become widely used as a commercial/industrial product, what risks might arise?

1.Risk to environment

If our design works and is introduced into a commercial/industrial product, the modified E.coli does have possibilities to pollute the environment. However, our product will not exist in the environment.

For a long time. Because we decide to add the E.coli into forage, which shelf life are only 3 days. So most of the forage is eaten by bees and the rest of them will be carefully handled with after 3 days. According to this, our product is safe for the environment.

2.Risk to human

Honey is a kind of normal food for us. So the safety of it is excessively important. In the beginning,it confused us that coli itself is a potential pathogen. The possibility that coli would spread out and contaminate the honey to us may cause intrinsic infection and acute diarrhea. In consideration of this situation, firstly we decide to try to use Lethal gene to connect with the gene we changed.And we can use this method to prevent the safety risks. Secondly, coli originally exists in bees, so we will not worry that all of the coli enter the body.Therefore our product will be safe to human.