Our team this year prioritized safety through all of our experiments. We maintained the use of non-pathogenic bacteria and ensured that our overall project and system was not harmful to any humans, animals, or the environment. All of our experiments were conducted inside a Level II Biosafety lab, and all of our Wet-Lab members obtained the necessary safety qualifications through in-person and online training from McMaster University and the Xu Lab at McMaster. These safety protocols included that each of us was sufficiently trained and signed off for by a member of the lab that conducted the training for each experimental procedure, including teaching us Lab Best Practices. The only potentially harmful chemicals we used are highly flammable chemicals, alcohol and isopropanol for bench surface disinfection and DNA precipitation respectively. These were both handled responsibly and best practices were followed. There may have been potential harm to our members due to the nature of the lab we are working in and the other ongoing projects, but we were all trained on proper safety practices, including contingency measures should an exposure occur. Overall, we ensured that our lab experiments and protocols all abided by the Canadian Biosafety Standards and Guidelines, as that is the guide provided by the Canadian Government in relation to the safe handling of human and animal pathogens, toxins, and plant pests in laboratories.
Additionally, while we did not conduct any human subjects research, our Human Practices team conducted several interviews with stakeholders and experts in the field. Every interviewee expressed consent to participating in the interview and having their answers and the content of the interview shared for our project.