Team:Linkoping Sweden/Safety

Safety within the lab

We have received safety training regarding waste disposal, biosafety, fire safety, handling dangerous materials and chemicals, emergency exits, working with microorganisms and personal protection, corresponding to a BSL 1.1 This was conducted by the biosafety officer from our institution (IFM - Institution for Biology, Chemistry and Physics), who raised no safety issues with our project.2

One risk that we are taking is the contamination risk while working with bacteria, and to accidentely spread their resistance. To reduce those risks, modified bacteria are always kept at restricted areas and we throw all material which has been in contact with bacteria in a specific waste. All instruments and waste that have been in contact with bacteria are autoclaved.
Another risk factor that we are exposed to is while staining and analyzing agarose gels, where we use ethidium bromide and an UV transilluminator. To minimize the risks we are using nitril gloves, rubber gloves and goggles while handeling the ethidium bromide and we are using covers and goggles while handeling the UV transilluminator. Moreover we are always using protective lab coats at the lab and nitril gloves in those cases there is a risk for us or for contaminating the samples.

A list of all organisms, new parts and modified protein coding parts that our team use can be found here.

The Escherichia. coli strains that we used in our project are lab strains that are not harmful to humans, and all fall under Risk Group 1.

Safety of our product outside the lab

As mentioned previously we are taking precautions regarding contamination risks as well as the risk of spreading bacterial resistance. Since we are using genetically modified microorganisms (GMM), all material that has been in contact with GMM are decontaminated. Chemical desinfection is also used on areas exposed of GMM.3

Beyond that, everything being in contact with bacteria is always autoclaved, the waste is handled in a way that ensures the safety for all employees and students. All laboratory waste must be packed and labelled according to instructions and only laboratory personnel are allowed to handle the waste. The cleaning staff is only allowed to handle regular paperwaste which has not been in contact with bacteria or other chemical or biological compounds.

Only approved packing is allowed to be used and is ordered from designated suppliers and laboratory waste are left at designated areas.4 All chemical waste labelled with hazard symbols are handled as hazardous waste.5 All antibiotic waste is treated as GMM waste to avoid antibiotics reaching the ecosystem. Furthermore, in order to avoid releasing antibiotic substances in nature all antibiotic waste is autoclaved.6
Above this our final product does not cause any safety issues outside the lab. Since no living bacteria is used in our product, only protein, there is no such risk of bacterial contamination, spread of bacterial resistance or infection.

References