This is a set of general safety guidelines provided by Tsing Hua University. The actions of all project design members must strictly align with the following rules
A. Laboratory Safety Standards
1. The laboratory must remain neat and orderly. 2. There should exist no patch panels in series or landing in the laboratory. 3. When working in the laboratory, individuals must wear appropriate personal protective equipment. 4. Containers containing waste liquid should be clearly labelled and placed in a safe location. 5. Laboratory waste containing cells and genetically engineered bacteria must be sterilized before disposal, and laboratory consumables or garbage must not be taken out from the laboratory.
B. Code of Conduct
1. Everyone who enters the laboratory must be guided by laboratory management personnel, abide by the safety rules, and understand the importance of safety.
2. Toxic, harmful, flammable, explosive materials and precious metals should be used in strict accordance with the SOP operating rules.
3. Laboratory personnel must be familiar with water, electricity, gas management, and switching. When leaving the laboratory, switches, water sources, gas sources, doors, and windows of non-continuous electrical appliances and lighting must be shut down in time.
4. When an experiment is in progress, the experimenter must not leave the laboratory without authorization. If the experimenter must leave, they should explain the precautions and ask another individual to watch over.
5. In the event of accidents such as poisoning, fire, explosion, etc., individuals should not panic. They should respond according to the safety rules, report to the teacher, find potential reasons for the accident, and record the accident afterward.
6. The last individual to leave the laboratory must enter the experimental record, which the laboratory safety manager would check. If a record is found to be missing, the value should be traced back to the time and day at which it was supposed to be written. The record is documented by the security manager every month for inquiries.
7. The person in charge of the laboratory is highly responsible for handling problems promptly and communicating with the professors regularly.
8. Persons in charge of laboratory sanitary and safety, and corresponding mentors, should regularly update the sanity and safety details of on-going experiments (e.g. laboratory safety hazards, personal laboratory finishing, laboratory health, etc.).
C. Sanitary Standards
1. Laboratory personnel are obliged to maintain a safe and hygienic environment in the laboratory (including the student office). Before leaving each day, responsible personnel should clean up the garbage and return moved items to their original locations. 2. After finishing each experiment, the experimenter should wash the utensils, return the equipment to the original position, dispose of solid and liquid waste according to the regulations, and cut off the power supply and waterway.
D. Rules and Standards Specific to Our Magnetic Protein Crystal Experiment
To prevent safety issues from arising during our experiments, we have designed a set of safety protocols tailored to our project.
1. This project does not involve designing or interacting with pathogens. Therefore, it is safer because of the absence of highly toxic reagents.
2. Before entering the laboratory, students must take protective measures – lab coat, gloves, etc. When leaving the laboratory, students should remove all protective equipment.
3. Eating and drinking in the laboratory is strictly prohibited.
4. Laboratory tests can only be carried out by students who have been trained to use the relevant equipment and reagents.
5. Students must pay close attention when using the centrifuge. An immediate stoppage is required when there is violent shaking or a loud siren noise, indicating that the equipment in an abnormal state.
6. The nucleic acid dye solution (Gel-green) used in gel electrophoresis can bind to DNA and is harmful to the human body. Students must be cautious of this substance.
7. After the experiment, students should return reagents to the original positions, check whether all pipettes are set back to its largest range, organize the desk, turn off the power of instruments that are not in use, and dispose of all waste in accordance to the safety rules.
8. No items should be removed from the laboratory.
D. Project Safety Considerations
Astragaline is a molecule with huge medicinal value, which naturally exists in plants. It can be used to treat Alzheimer's disease. What's more, the ability to cross blood brain barrier makes it outstanding among other molecules. However, it is not efficient to extract it from plants. This year, we will try to use E. coli, transform some key genes into them, to obtain Astragaline with the method of synthetic biology.
Astragalin is nontoxic. Conclusions from literature search and relevant expert visits show that astragalin is highly unlikely to have acute hazard or toxicity towards human. E. coli are in the white list. To use the safe organisms to produce a molecule is a popular kind of project that many iGEM teams have chosen. Nonetheless, we followed strictly the safety rules in the lab to make sure we handle all experiment materials safely.
The reactant naringenin is known to cause skin irritation, serious eye irritation, and may cause respiratory irritation. The intermediate kaempferol is known to be toxic if swallowed and is suspected to cause genetic defects.
We will strictly follow the laboratory regulations and rules and follow the teachers' instructions. We will not take out or use for food any substances in the laboratory. We will wear lab coats and gloves whenever possible during the experiment to ensure that we do not touch any experimental materials.