Team:Tsinghua/Safety

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• SAFETY

General Lab Safety
Before we started our project, all of our team members had received lab safety training, including standard experimental protocols, disposal of waste, information on hazardous chemicals and proper use of biosafety cabinets etc. Team members working in specific labs went through orientations with mentors or managers detailing proper equipment usage and safety before gaining access to that lab. The risks to team members were minimized by wearing appropriate PPEs in the lab all the time and following lab safety regulations of Tsinghua University. The E. coli we involved in the whole project was lab safe strain DH5α. Hazardous chemicals such as ethidium bromide were carefully used according to protocols.

Hardware safety
Although there were only minor risks during our molecular experiments, it’s absolutely necessary to carefully consider the potential threat of our hardware itself. To make our hardware completely harmless, we took two levels of measures: all electronic components are in a separate compartment and are inaccessible for the user, preventing electric shock or other injuries. Also, light-exposure device has no contact with the bacteria during or after the experiment, making it hard to be contaminated. Therefore, it’s reasonable to conclude that our hardware is harmless.

Experiment safety
In one of our experimental design, a lethal protein ccdB was used to screen for successful dCas9-recombinase hybrid design. Since that ccdB is an inhibitor of DNA gyrase and therefore interferes with normal bacterial activity, any improper disposal of ccdB protein and plasmids containing ccdB gene will pose serious results to the natural bacterial communities. In order to avoid that problem, all members in the team were instructed of how to distribute and utilize this gene with specific orientation. For example, bacteria transformed with this gene should be treated separately. In addition, since that ccdB is not harmful for human beings, it is trustworthy and safe to use this protein to kill the bacteria.

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