All kinds of safety problems occur in biology labs. In order to prevent accidents from happening and ensure our health, we make a series of preparations following the instructions of iGEM Safety Committee and offer adequate trainings to every team member. The details of our efforts of safety can be seen below.
We have completed the Project Safety Form and Check-in Form as required by the Safety Committee. We reported all the biomaterials used in our project and potential hazards of our project and our solutions to them. Turning in the Project Safety Form and Check-in Form shows our complying with iGEM Responsibility Regulations.
Figure 1. The Final Safety Form submitted by BNDS_China in 2022
Figure 2. The Check-in Form submitted by BNDS_China in 2022
Minor mistakes made in lab work can cause huge safety trouble. In order to make sure all the experiment devices are handled safely, we list a series of devices on paper to make the check before leaving lab more easily. In this way, it is simple to avoid forgetting and prevent danger from happening.
Figure 3. The lab check list of BNDS_China in 2022
Experiments are an important component in iGEM competition. Notwithstanding, lab work has a lot of potential danger, including the pathogenicity of bacteria and toxicity of some reagents. Incredibly harmful effects can be made without proper lab operations. Therefore, out of necessity, we offer trainings of important lab operations and cautions both online and offline. In addition, we also set up rigorous examination rules to ensure every team member is familiar with lab safety concerns and is able to handle lab work without hazard.
This year’s project involves the usage of bacteria from Bacillus genus for target of detection. To be more specific, we have to use Bacillus cereus, Bacillus subtilis, and Bacillus thuringiensis for detection target. However, known for its pathogenicity and ability to produce spores, Bacillus is always regarded as a dangerous strain. To avoid causing further potential safety hazards, we use nontoxic strains: Bacillus cereus ATCC 10876, Bacillus subtilis CICC 10732, Bacillus thuringiensis ATCC 10792. All of these strains are from Risk Group 1 and are not able to produce toxins or generate spores. Although the strains are not hazardous themselves, we still try our best to avoid any possible exposure or release. The efforts include double sealed package during transportation, performing all the operations in biosafety cabinet, and son on. In this way, we are able to ensure that usage of special strains will not cause any safety problems.
Our project this year requires operations with proteins, which include protein purification, SDS-PAGE, Western Blotting, and so on. Some toxic chemicals including SDS, TEMED, Acr-Bis, and AP are involved in these operations. To ensure that the toxic chemicals will not impose hazards on team members, we set up a series of regulations of performing with these chemicals, which include that all the operations must be completed within the fume hood, the operators must wear gloves and masks, and so on. We also invite seniors from the lab to supervise the operations to prevent mistakes. Therefore, we can ensure that the operations will not cause hazards to the operators.
