Difference between revisions of "Team:Bordeaux/Practices"

Popularization

This year, IGEM Bordeaux has decided to invest time and energy in talking with people about synthetic biology and Genetically modified organisms. You'll find in this section a preview of what we did this year

Cap Sciences

Cap sciences is an animations center in Bordeaux, open to all which tries to help people discover and understand scientific phenomenons, new technologies and their industrial applications. They try to make science accessible to everyone and to engage a large variety of people in scientific activities. They were glad to hear about our project and we have been in contact with them all throughout the year, presenting what we've done on popularization. Here is a link to an interview we had with them at the beginning of the year:

Watch our interview!

This partnership also pushed us to go talk to people on the street to understand where their fear of genetically modified organisms comes from and to raise awareness on what is being done nowadays with synthetic biology in our everyday life. Caroline, Charlotte, Gilles and Diego spent a few afternoons in the streets of Bordeaux trying to get in contact with walkers. These conversations tought us that in Bordeaux the main concern about GMO's is that people are unaware about what they really are and the possibilities that synthetic biology offer us. Furthermore it made us start to realize the importance of scientific communication and for the need to think about our project from an ethical and safety point of view. For more information on the questions we asked ourselves please see the Ethics page!

SURVEY TO PUT HERE

Presentation of Synthetic Biology in Lycée Montesquieu

IGEM Bordeaux also wanted to raise teenager's awareness of synthetic biology. On 2015, May, 21st, Jean, Savandara and Lily made a presentation of synthetic biology at the school "Lycée Montesquieu" in Bordeaux, showing its interest by giving some interesting applications.

Lab Life

After a few years of thinking about it, our game is finally going to be created physically. It took some determination and long hours playing to optimize it but we're proud to present our 2015 Edition!

Next section: Ethics -->

Safety

To avoid confusion about the terms "biosecurity", "biosafety" and "biohazard", some people gave a definition of each of these terms.

• Biosafety describes principles, technologies and containment practices put in place to avoid accidents and unintentional exposure to pathogens and toxins.

• Biosecurity describes the protection measures put in place and management of important biological materials in laboratories, in order to prevent them from being accessed without authorization.

• Biohazard includes, in this case, both biosafety and biosecurity.

Reference : http://www.ambafrance-uk.org/Biosecurite-dans-les-laboratoires

The team who worked in the lab has received instructions of lab safety with safety training.

• We learned about acting in case of an accident, where to find emergency showers, fire extinguishers and emergency doors.

• Some requirements were discussed as wearing gloves and lab coat for most procedures. In some cases, during the use of ethidium bromide, nitrile gloves are mandatory. Other experiments must be conducted with safety glasses. It is also recommended to wear clothes offering a minimum of protection.

• We also learned about working with chemicals products and how to dispose of them. Most products used are classified as non-hazardous (even for the sulfation protocol). Chemical products are just irritants and so handle it with gloves. In the lab, there is a specific solvent cabinet for liquid wastes.

• Moreover, all biological waste will be autoclaved before disposal. All work is done on benches or under open-front hoods.

• We worked with non-toxic organisms as Escherichia coli (BL21) and Saccharomyces cerevisiae (Invsc1) but, all waste that has been in contact with bacteria was put to bacterial waste in aseptic conditions.

Next section: Economy -->