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Lab Safety



Safety Level

The TU Eindhoven has multiple lab spaces with different Safety Levels. As an iGEM team, access to one of the labs with BioSafety Level 1 was gained,
Within Biosafety Level 1, people are allowed to work with microorganisms which cannot cause any diseases or harm to humans.
for us the ML-I laboratory. In this kind of lab most work involved recombinant expression of protein in E. coli or yeast expression systems, and the application of bacteriophages for phage display.
In the ML-II laboratory, with BioSafety Level 2
Within Biosafety Level 2, people are allowed to work with microorganisms which do not easily cause a disease. It also includes microorganisms which cause a disease for which a vaccine or cure is known. The rules to enter a Biosafety Level 2 laboratory are stricter.
, the work typically involves the use of immortalized cell lines, but also tissues or primary cells from animals or humans. In the ML-II also takes place the genetic modifications of eukaryotic cell lines for addressing localization and interaction of transfected proteins.
During our project a lab with BioSafety Level 1 is sufficient, because only work with the E. coli chassis was preformed, which is a risk group 1 organism.





Safety Training



After a safety training and tour through an ML-I laboratory of TU Eindhoven by the lab manager Peggy de Graaf, with a closing of signing an agreement, the team gained access to the lab, located in the Helix building on the TU Eindhoven campus. During the training the topics were mostly about the equipment, the biosafety rules in the Netherlands. (which follows the Cartegena- and Europeanprotocols.

The most valid Biosafety rules in our lab are:
  • Keep windows and doors shut.
  • Keep everything clean and tidy, make sure enough disinfectant is present.
  • Always wear a marked and closed lab coat, which is not permitted outside the lab. The lab coats have to be sterilized by autoclaving before sending it to the laundry.
  • Don’t wear any watches or jewellery, or keep them covered by gloves or lab coat. Bags, laptops etc. are not allowed and can be stored outside the lab in lockers.
  • Avoid any contact between your hands and your face. Don’t eat, drink or smoke inside the laboratory. Storing food or drinks is also not allowed.
  • Avoid formation of aerosols. Mix and centrifuge in closed tubes. The use of a needle is allowed only when no other method is available.
  • Pipetting with the mouth is not allowed; use the available equipment (pipette boy or pipette bulb).
  • Always disinfect your working space before and at the end of your activities.
  • After a contamination of your working space (e.g. when you spill any biological material) disinfect the working space.
  • After working with biological agents and when leaving the laboratory, always wash your hands with water and soap.
  • All re-usable materials that were in contact with biological materials have to be sterilized before being washed or discarded.
  • Solid biological material is gathered in the red biohazard bags, transferred in blue containers and disposed off as special garbage. Liquid biological waste has to be autoclaved before it can be discarded.
  • All accidents and spills, and all activities with GMO’s or human material have to be reported in the appropriate logbook.
 More information about the Safety rules in our lab can be found here





Lab Responsibility



The BioSafety officer, the main person responsible for the biological safety at our institution, is Moniek de Liefde - Van Beest. The Principal Investigator (PI) is responsible for the biosafety and lab safety of the laboratory/laboratories of his/her department. The PI of our lab is Maarten Merkx. He also has a GMO license, all of our GMO work is done under his license, permit GGO-03-121. For license request about GMO's, the instance to contact in the Netherlands is Bureau