Difference between revisions of "Team:AHUT China/safety"

The team Ahut-China places great emphasis on safety of synthetic biology. The instructors have particularly introduced importance of biological safety and consequences of irregular operations to our team members. Our team is trying to achieve a careful and comprehensive consideration in two general aspects: experiment safety and project safety.

Ⅰ.Experiment Safety

Materials and Facilities

The experimental materials we use includes microorganism of risk level one (colibacillus DH5a and agrobacterium tumefaciens EHA105), normal plants of Rehmannia glutinosa Libosch, common laboratory reagents and other regular experimental materials). These are common biological materials which do not have any special harms or dangers. Safety of experimenters can be guaranteed as long as we operate the facilities in a proper way, and take relevant preventive measures in advance.

We conduct our experiments in the open workbench after considering the safety of experimental materials. All of the other experimental facilities meet the criterion of first-level labs. At the same time, we also attach great importance to safety of water, electricity gas, etc.

Safety Training

Before operating in the lab, every member of Ahut-China has been involved in relevant training of lab safety. The training includes experimental safety knowledge of molecular biology, lab techniques, introductions to regular apparatus and software, safety of standard operation, personnel protection, common emergency response and handling, etc. We will try to ensure that every member of our team has a full awareness of experiment safety. Only in this way can we avoid various experimental dangers by taking preventive measures in advance.

We’ve chosen Laboratory Biosafety Manual published by the WHO (World Health Organization) as our experimental reference manual. This manual introduces assessment method of biological safety level, requirements of operation and facilities in various levels of labs, knowledge of safety protection guidance, etc. It has played a vital role in our training and experiments.

Waste Disposal

The way of handling the materials as well as waste after experiments is directly related to safety of human beings and environment. Biological materials and waste must be strictly controlled in order to avoid possible harm to human beings and environment.

After the experiment, all the infectious materials in the lab are decontaminated, autoclaved or incinerated. As for some regular materials such as lab coats, apparatus and most lab glassware, they are often stored for later use after disinfection and sterilization. Disposable gloves are used when we are handling the waste. We wash our hands very carefully after handling the materials as well as before leaving the lab.

Ⅱ.Project Safety

In the project, our team has paid more attention to the study of synthetic regulation system of APeGs in plants, with the goal of making a contribution to human health by improving quality of various foods and medicines. All of our work is done in the lab with Rehmannia glutinosa Libosch serving as our study carrier. The work is strictly controlled, and will not cause any damage to human beings or external environment.

If our project and study can make it possible that some bio-synthetic products (such as transgenic Rehmannia glutinosa Libosch) can be grown and eaten in people’s daily life in the future, we must guarantee that these products will meet the criterion of safety assessment of transgenic plants firstly, including environment safety and food safety. It is only when we get the approval of safety assessment and permission of relevant departments, laws and regulations can these products be possibly used in our daily lives.