Team:TrinityCollegeDublin/Safety
Safety
Keep calm, and put your lab coat on!
Nearly everything in a lab can pose a hazard if not handled properly as the lab is home to dangerous chemicals, equipment and microorganisms which need proper disposal. Safety in and outside of the lab was of utmost importance for the whole team during our iGEM research period so we made sure that we kept our lab in high standards.
Upon arrival in the lab, we were introduced to lab staff, and made familiar with the locations of the necessary equipment. We then spent week 1 of our 15 weeks being instructed in good lab practice and technique by our instructors. This meant proper handling of chemicals and materials, reviewing proper waste disposal, fire safety and emergency exits, and last but not least, biosafety and handling bacterium.
All the methods we carried out in the lab were conducted by separate risk assessment documents that covered: separation of nucleic acids on gels, visualisation of gels using UV light, biochemical reagent preparation, use of the autoclave for sterilisation, use of the microwave to melt solid agar and agarose gels. Furthermore, everyone in our team has lab experience, having gone through the safety procedures numerous times throughout the academic years and also having general knowledge on what is recognised as good laboratory practice.
We showed our chief lab technical officers that the genes we intended to use wouldn’t display any hazardous emergent properties and thus, were not inherently dangerous.
All of our work took place in the Teaching Lab, which is GM-certified. For example, its windows cannot be opened to prevent the escape of any microorganisms. The lab is also specialised for biosafety level 1, which means that it can only be used to handle biological agents which are harmless to people. On that note, all bacteria used during our project are categorised as risk group 1 in biosafety guidelines as we worked just with E. coli strains DH5α, B569 and XL1-Blue all of which are not pathogenic to humans.
However, there is still a small residual risk of contamination, particularly the eyes and the respiratory pathway, which is why the organisms we used that were genetically modified, or grown in cultures were autoclaved after use.
General lab safety rules:
• It was ensured that all team members wore lab coats and nitrile gloves when working in the wet lab.
• Everybody had to sterilize their hands and all the equipment benches with alcohol solution after each experiment.
• Food and drink were prohibited in the lab.
• All collected lab waste was sterilized.
• Certain pieces of equipment required more experienced members of staff (the instructors) to operate them e.g. Autoclave machine and liquid nitrogen.
• -80°C Freezer: Special warm gloves were worn to manipulate what was inside the freezer.
• When handling heated materials e.g. glassware containing hot LB agar broth, a heatproof glove was worn.
• While visualising GFP under UV light, team members wore UV protection goggles to limit exposure.
• When handling chemicals that were likely to emit toxic fumes, a fume hood was used.
• The lab included several stations set up for different procedures, e.g. a station to prepare agar gels, a station for restriction digests/ligations etc. This layout helped evade contamination and guaranteed our bench didn’t become too disorderly - another feature of good scientific practice!
• Plates were poured and antibiotic stock solutions were prepared in a fume hood. The plates were always covered with parafilm before being transferred to the fridge in the storage room.
• When leaving the lab, all team members washed their hands meticulously
On an end note, ask your lab technicians to get you a bigger waste basket for Pasteur pipettes.
Nearly everything in a lab can pose a hazard if not handled properly as the lab is home to dangerous chemicals, equipment and microorganisms which need proper disposal. Safety in and outside of the lab was of utmost importance for the whole team during our iGEM research period so we made sure that we kept our lab in high standards.
Upon arrival in the lab, we were introduced to lab staff, and made familiar with the locations of the necessary equipment. We then spent week 1 of our 15 weeks being instructed in good lab practice and technique by our instructors. This meant proper handling of chemicals and materials, reviewing proper waste disposal, fire safety and emergency exits, and last but not least, biosafety and handling bacterium.
All the methods we carried out in the lab were conducted by separate risk assessment documents that covered: separation of nucleic acids on gels, visualisation of gels using UV light, biochemical reagent preparation, use of the autoclave for sterilisation, use of the microwave to melt solid agar and agarose gels. Furthermore, everyone in our team has lab experience, having gone through the safety procedures numerous times throughout the academic years and also having general knowledge on what is recognised as good laboratory practice.
We showed our chief lab technical officers that the genes we intended to use wouldn’t display any hazardous emergent properties and thus, were not inherently dangerous.
All of our work took place in the Teaching Lab, which is GM-certified. For example, its windows cannot be opened to prevent the escape of any microorganisms. The lab is also specialised for biosafety level 1, which means that it can only be used to handle biological agents which are harmless to people. On that note, all bacteria used during our project are categorised as risk group 1 in biosafety guidelines as we worked just with E. coli strains DH5α, B569 and XL1-Blue all of which are not pathogenic to humans.
However, there is still a small residual risk of contamination, particularly the eyes and the respiratory pathway, which is why the organisms we used that were genetically modified, or grown in cultures were autoclaved after use.
General lab safety rules:
• It was ensured that all team members wore lab coats and nitrile gloves when working in the wet lab.
• Everybody had to sterilize their hands and all the equipment benches with alcohol solution after each experiment.
• Food and drink were prohibited in the lab.
• All collected lab waste was sterilized.
• Certain pieces of equipment required more experienced members of staff (the instructors) to operate them e.g. Autoclave machine and liquid nitrogen.
• -80°C Freezer: Special warm gloves were worn to manipulate what was inside the freezer.
• When handling heated materials e.g. glassware containing hot LB agar broth, a heatproof glove was worn.
• While visualising GFP under UV light, team members wore UV protection goggles to limit exposure.
• When handling chemicals that were likely to emit toxic fumes, a fume hood was used.
• The lab included several stations set up for different procedures, e.g. a station to prepare agar gels, a station for restriction digests/ligations etc. This layout helped evade contamination and guaranteed our bench didn’t become too disorderly - another feature of good scientific practice!
• Plates were poured and antibiotic stock solutions were prepared in a fume hood. The plates were always covered with parafilm before being transferred to the fridge in the storage room.
• When leaving the lab, all team members washed their hands meticulously
On an end note, ask your lab technicians to get you a bigger waste basket for Pasteur pipettes.