We have carried out our project following the necessary security lab measurements. All the protocols have been made according to good practices, according to the laws, and complying with iGEM’s security rules and policies. Our team has covered every aspect of the Safety Form provided by iGEM, every point has been fulfilled successfully.
All the team has passed through safety training. Qualified and trained scientists have taught us about all the safety lab measures, the use of biosafety cabins, and emergency procedures (among very others).
We haven’t used any organism or technique beyond the White list and we haven’t performed any banned activity stipulated by iGEM. Therefore, we don’t need any kind of permission due to the lack of animals, experiments with human samples, releasement of genetic material from the lab, or any of that kind.
Regarding our laboratory performance, our team has worked in a laboratory of biosecurity level 1. This means that we have worked at the lowest level, which applies to working with agents that usually pose a minimal potential threat to laboratory workers and the environment and do not consistently cause disease in healthy adults, as the organisms with which we work do not present a potential risk.
As we handle plant material we have used not only laboratories but also the particular infrastructure for plant growth as Biosafety cabinets and risk-free greenhouses and growth chambers, places in which our plants have been growing safely and without risking human health.
Our project's objective is to prove that we can generate plants as CO2 sensors. This requires the identification of the best promoter sequences induced by high CO2 concentrations. To develop our project first, we studied the different expression levels of several Arabidopsis thaliana CO2 inducible promoters, under ambient and elevated CO2 conditions. We have used the GFP reporter gene to measure the transcription level of each promoter using Nicotiana benthamiana transitory transformation. We have successfully created new parts that are totally non-hazardous and are already registered in the Registry. The bacteria used for biobricks production has been E. coli and the one for plant transformation has been Agrobacterium tumefaciens. All these tasks are performed without any hazardous chemicals.
Our product is a proof of concept. Therefore, the generated plants will not be released outside the lab.
During the entire time we were in the laboratory, we follow the necessary security measures:
- At all times we have been supervised by the people in charge of the laboratory, who have been in charge of supervising the actions carried out and guiding us in the appropriate knowledge and techniques.
- Before entering the laboratory, we attended mandatory lectures on Health and Biosafety in the laboratory, where they also explained the protocols and actions to follow in case of emergency.
- We receive appropriate clothing and equipment to work in the laboratory: lab coats, safety goggles, respirators, nitrile, and/or latex gloves…
- Any waste that we produced was deposited in its corresponding container and processed in a regulatory manner.
- We had our own workspace, dedicated to the development of our project, and space too for our meetings and to practice our presentation and multimedia for the team booth.