Safety is one of the basic principles of science. Safety rules have been established in order to protect the general public, but also scientists themselves.
There are many different aspects of biosafety. First of all, laboratory safety concerns the protective measures followed in laboratory spaces to secure, on the
one hand, that workers’ health is not put in danger and, on the other hand, that hazardous factors are not released. Except for laboratory safety, project safety
ensures that the final scientific product will be safe for human beings, animals and the environment. Project safety also deals with different ways to control
the growth and expansion of genetically modified organisms, such as kill switches and growth-controlling factors. Lastly, there is a social and ethical face of
biosafety. It is very crucial that scientific innovations will be used prudently and morally. History has taught us that it is society’s responsibility to enact
laws in order to avoid exploitation of scientific discoveries.
Our team, through our journey in the iGEM competition, has taken action to deal responsibly with biosafety issues concerning our project and our work in
the laboratory. Moreover, we want to underline that safety in science should be communicated to people, and so, some of our educational actions and
collaborations aimed to help people learn and discuss about biosafety.
Before starting our experiments we were trained by our supervisor, Elena Pappa, on how to use the laboratory equipment safely, and we emphasised on the
potential hazards, for example, UV light and toxic chemicals. We also were informed about the guidelines we have to follow in case of emergency, like fire,
gas leak or someone being wounded.
We attended the Safety Seminar delivered by Dr Thanos Kakkanas at the Hellenic Pasteur Institute as well. The seminar focused on the potential dangers when working in the laboratory, such as carcinogens, mutagens, highly flammable chemicals, acids and corrosive chemicals, cytotoxic reagents, neurotoxic chemicals, respiratory, skin and eye irritants, inflammatory reagents etc. Another part of the workshop concerned disinfection and sterilisation. We were finally informed about the health problems provoked by constant standing and bad posture when working on the bench.
Our experiments were conducted at Professor A. Agathagelidis’ laboratory at the Biology Department of the National Kapodistrian University of Athens,
which is a BSL 1 standard laboratory. The organisms we were using are the following E. coli strains: DH5-alpha, DH5-alpha-Z1, DH10-beta, BL21. Some of
our experiments were also hosted at other laboratories of the Biology department that provided us with the special equipment we needed (for example Dr.
Dedos laboratory provided us with the plate reader). All of these laboratories are BSL1 standard laboratories.
For that reason, we aimed to follow all the laws and regulations of laboratory operations according to the European Union, the Greek Government, and the
host institution for our experiments (NKUA). You can read more about those laws and regulations below:
All team members followed strictly and responsibly the dress code, which includes closed shoes, full-length trousers, and mandatory use of a lab coat,
mask and nitrile gloves, not only when doing experiments, but also when spectating.
We made sure that no food or drinks were exposed in the laboratory spaces by keeping them in a separate freezer in another room.
We were also very cautious with our waste management; we never discarded any living organisms or chemicals. Our used Petri dishes were all autoclaved
before discarding, and all liquid cultures and consumables that were exposed to the microorganisms, such as tips and eppendorfs, were incubated overnight
with a strong chlorine/soap solution, before disposal. When working with dangerous substances, such as ethidium bromide, we always worked on a separate
special bench and used another pair of gloves.
Warning signs and safety instructions were hung on our walls.
Our laboratory was provided with a fire safety corner.
Moreover, there was never one person working in the laboratory alone, in case an emergency happened and they needed help.
As the organism we used was E.coli disinfection played a very important role while conducting our experiments. An aseptic technique was always used and
our microbiological work was done under flame. All the workstations were sterilised with 70% ethanol both prior to and after each experiment.
More specifically, instead of the STAR and anti-STAR genes, we thought we could insert the genes of a toxin (SymE) and its antitoxin (SymR).
Our team submitted the safety form required by the iGEM competition.
Some of the team members attended the safety workshop, in which we learned a lot about human practices and biosafety concerns. The couches presented some
scenarios inspired by previous projects and we developed our thoughts and questions. It was a very experiential procedure.
Our team this year organised and participated in various educational and communicational events. But we never forgot that our duty towards our audience was, except from helping them explore the world of Synthetic Biology, to make sure that this procedure is safe for them. Our team followed all the rules concerning biological safety (we ensured that everyone was wearing gloves and protective masks during our workshops,we did not use dangerous substances, we gave them specific instructions and supervised in case anyone needed assistance etc), but also personal data safety.
We also communicated with the Safety Committee to make sure that some of our Human Practices actions were safe and that we followed all the iGEM safety guidelines. More specifically, we asked if we could perform a bacterial transformation at the High School we visited and we were informed that we could run that activity as it was executed in a laboratory and all safety measures were followed. Moreover, we did not include agar plates in the Researcher’s night festival as we initially planned, because the festival was conducted at a public building and not at a controlled laboratory space.
Shortly before the closing date for the submission of the “Project Biosafety Form”, our team organised a debate on the topic of Biosafety open to the
public.
After introducing the teams, our team presented Biosafety rules and levels, explained what a genetically engineered organism is and the ways we can modify
genomes. Also, we focused on the applications of those organisms and the social impact that they can have. We unravelled some ways we can prevent future
destructions, such as kill switches. Then we discussed with our audience some safety measures in projects from the past. The night ended with a fascinating
debate among three students on the theme: Is it safe to release genetically engineered microorganisms in nature?
What do you think biosafety is about?
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