Team:Chalmers-Gothenburg/Safety

Safety

In order to start a new experiment the team created a new Risk Declaration specifying all safety precautions needed to be taken into consideration in order to conduct the experiments. Before being able to start working in the lab everyone had to attend a safety introduction held by the lab manager.

During our project we have handled chemicals that are flammable, corrosive, oxidizing, irritating, toxic and harmful for the environment. Those chemicals could pose a risk for both us and the environment if not handled correctly. Furthermore we have handled GMOs that are by Swedish legislation prohibited to be released into the environment.

To reduce the risks we use safety equipment whenever handling chemicals and biological samples such as lab coats, appropriate gloves, and safety goggles. In order to protect our samples and to protect ourselves we have used fume hoods in a great extent. Chemical and biological waste has been labeled and handed over to lab technicians that take care of the waste properly.

Everyone working in the lab was early on obligated to read the material safety datasheets of all chemicals we have used. Furthermore, it was also a prerequisite to read through the standard operation procedures associated with the instruments and machines that we used. Everyone had to know perfectly well where to find emergency equipment as well, including fire extinguishers, eye showers, showers, powder to soak up spilled chemicals and the emergency electric switch.

We have worked in ventilated spaces and we never work alone in the lab. We have had dialogues with our advisers and with the lab personnel regularly and frequently in order to be kept updated on new information on what's happening in the lab and what safety precautions to keep in mind.

Regarding the organisms used, they were of Biosafety Level 1 according to the well-established biological resource center DSMZ. The strains used are strains that are adapted for laboratory work and therefore don’t survive well outside of the lab environment. For selection, in order to reduce the use of antibiotics, we worked with auxotrophic strains. All biological samples were collected in waste containers that are taken care of by professionals.

For our end product, being the genetically engineered machine, we would like for it to be used in the industry and in laboratories. To minimize the risk of it spreading into places where it should not be, we have inserted a kill switch into its genome. This allows the cell to only grow in the presence of glucose. The kill switch could be chosen to suit the cells’ optimal environment for different applications.