Safety in iGEM

Overview

As we learnt in our Policies and Practices section, the safety aspect of both producing and using our Envirowire is of paramount importance. This is why we have ensured that every aspect of our project has followed all the safety guidelines and regulations.

Safe Project Design

Usually, prions carry the negative association associated with infectious mammalian proteins. What is less known is that the word also describes yeast prions, which are harmless proteins obtained by S.Cervisiae (baker’s yeast). Yeast is used in a multitude of food preparations, including baking, winemaking, brewing. The only reason the two are both called prions is due to the similarities it shares in the fact that epigenetic information for propagation was coded in protein conformation. Both disease-associated prions and yeast prions are classified as amyloid because of their quaternary conformation. The yeast prion we decided to work with is a functional amyloid, rather than a pathogenic one, because our amyloid is tolerated by the host cell, may perform beneficial function and may even be evolutionary selected due to their beneficial functions in the yeast cells.

In The Future

The future uses of our Envirowire might involve the amyloid nanowires being introduced in a battery, in order for it to power small consumer products. The nanowire can be present and working even in the absence of the bacteria that produced them in the first place.

Despite not posing any potential harm to humans, our organisms may be deemed risky if exposed intentionally or through human error. In order to avoid such exposure out to the environment, prevention measures will be established such as secure containment within a device and recycling the biomass in a designated area after use.

Our nanowires are self-assembling, making them safer and cheaper alternatives to traditional conductive metals such as silver or copper. In addition to this, it eliminates the cost and environmental price of mining.

Safe Lab Work

Protocols

Some of our protocols (link to protocols) involve the use of some potentially hazardous machinery and equipment. Therefore, we performed thorough risk assessments to use for each of these machines. For example, using the autoclave machine might risk in electrocution, cuts from broken glass, burning, contamination of water bath. To prevent any of these instances from happening and lowering the risks, we put in place some control measures such as using heat protective gloves, allowing load to cool before handling, avoid spillage on electrical equipment, disposal of glass in specific bins and regularly clean water bath, and disposal of waste material in bio-hazard bags for sterilisation.

Lab Etiquette

We have also ensured all team members in the wet lab were following standard laboratory etiquette put in place by our department. These measures involve wearing lab coats, hair tied up, gloves and appropriate footwear at all times. The school also prohibits the consumption of any food or drink in the laboratory.

Safe Shipment

The shipment of our Biobricks has been performed under all the iGEM submission requirements. We have submitted dried down, miniprepped plasmids in the kit provided. We sealed the plate with adhesive foil, ensuring it made full contact with the wells of the plate. The plate has been sealed with a plastic lid and we shipped our Biobricks with a tracking number, ensuring the package only contained the samples and was clearly labelled as DNA.