Team:Missouri Miners/Safety

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Latest revision as of 03:00, 28 October 2010

Safety

There are many concerns in synthetic biology regarding biosafety. Biosafety can be defined as “safety to the respect of biological research on humans and the environment” (Merriam-Webster).

We are a bio safety level 1 lab.

Three main biosafety risks have been outlined by Arjun Bhutkar. The first is the risk of negative environmental impact. Second is the risk of natural genome pool contamination and third is the run-off risk. Run-off risk describes the possibility of genetically altered organisms replicating or evolving.

Researchers and labs participating in synthetic biology take precautions to prevent these risks from occurring so our world will continue to be a safe place. Labs are rated with different biosafety levels to assess the amount of risk associated with the research and to define the necessary precautions to prevent encountered risk. Our Missouri S&T iGEM lab is rated biosafety level 1. This means that our lab is suitable for work involving well-characterized agents not known to consistently cause disease in healthy adult humans. It also has a minimal potential hazard to laboratory personnel and the environment (Biosafety, 2010).

To ensure that our iGEM lab does not pose a threat on humans or the environment we perform our research in a controlled and sterile setting. We use sterile technique to avoid introducing genetically modified organisms into the environment. All used media and supplies are sterilized with bleach and autoclaved. All of the members who research in the lab are educated in safety protocol and made aware of the risks associated with our research. We make every attempt possible to reduce the risks associated with synthetic biology.

References:

Bhutkar, A. (2005). Synthetic Biology: Navigating the Challenges Ahead. The Journal of Biolaw & Business. 8(2) 19-28
Merriam-Webster. Encyclopedia Britanica, n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2010. <http://mw2.merriam-webster.com/ dictionary/biosafety>.
"Biosafety." Center for Disease Control and Prevention. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2010. http://www.cdc.gov/biosafety/.

Relevant Links

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-<!--
- You have to write floats before you write non floats. Non floats are solid and can't be interrupted, floats can have stuff on top of them. -->
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+<p class="sectionheader">Safety</p>
+<p>There are many concerns in synthetic biology regarding biosafety.  Biosafety can be defined as “safety to the respect of biological research on humans and the environment” (Merriam-Webster).
-<p align="center" style="font-size:14px">
-	 <i>"It is well known that microorganisms can produce fuels, such as ethanol, methane and hydrogen, from organic matter. It is less well known that microorganisms can also convert organic matter into electricity in devices known as microbial fuel cells."</i> <br /> ~ Dr. Derek Lovley, 2006.
 </p><br />
-<p class="sectionheader">Missouri Miners and Safety</p>
+<html><div class="memberpic" style="margin:20px;">
-<p>
+<a target="_blank" href="MST_BioSafety1.png">
-Our project requires only level 1 labs and general synthetic biology lab technique.  The 2010 Microbial Fuel Cell project uses a non-pathogenic strain of <i>Escherichia Coli</i> as a chassis for our plasmids.
+  <img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2010/6/68/MST_BioSafety1.png" width="auto" height="120" />
-</p>
+  </a>
-<p class="sectionheader">The Importance of Safety in Synthetic Biology</p>
+  <div class="caption" style="width:100px;">We are a bio safety level 1 lab.</div>
-<p>
+</div>
-Important things
+</html>
-</p>
+<p>Three main biosafety risks have been outlined by Arjun Bhutkar.  The first is the risk of negative environmental impact.  Second is the risk of natural genome pool contamination and third is the run-off risk.  Run-off risk describes the possibility of genetically altered organisms replicating or evolving.
-<p class="sectionheader">Ethics and Synthetic Biology</p>
+</p><br />
-<p>
+<p>Researchers and labs participating in synthetic biology take precautions to prevent these risks from occurring so our world will continue to be a safe place.  Labs are rated with different biosafety levels to assess the amount of risk associated with the research and to define the necessary precautions to prevent encountered risk.
-Ethical things. <!-- Talk to Travis Gibson!!! -->
+Our Missouri S&T iGEM lab is rated biosafety level 1. This means that our lab is suitable for work involving well-characterized agents not known to consistently cause disease in healthy adult humans.  It also has a minimal potential hazard to laboratory personnel and the environment (Biosafety, 2010).</p>
+<p>To ensure that our iGEM lab does not pose a threat on humans or the environment we perform our research in a controlled and sterile setting.  We use sterile technique to avoid introducing genetically modified organisms into the environment.  All used media and supplies are sterilized with bleach and autoclaved.  All of the members who research in the lab are educated in safety protocol and made aware of the risks associated with our research.  We make every attempt possible to reduce the risks associated with synthetic biology.
+</p><br /><p>
+References:
 </p>
+<br />
+Bhutkar, A. (2005). Synthetic Biology: Navigating the Challenges Ahead. The Journal of Biolaw & Business. 8(2) 19-28<br />
+Merriam-Webster. Encyclopedia Britanica, n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2010. <http://mw2.merriam-webster.com/ dictionary/biosafety>. <br />
+"Biosafety." Center for Disease Control and Prevention. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Oct. 2010. http://www.cdc.gov/biosafety/.
-<html>
-<a href="https://2010.igem.org/Team:Missouri_Miners/Brainstorming"><img class="floatpic" src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2010/6/60/Idea_Center.jpg"></a><a href="https://2010.igem.org/Team:Missouri_Miners/Notebook"><img class="floatpic" src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2010/3/37/Labnotebook.jpg"></a><a href="https://2010.igem.org/Team:Missouri_Miners/Project"><img class="floatpic" src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2010/f/f6/Idea_Center_2b.jpg"></a>
-<div class="floattxt" style="text-align:left">Lots of neat ideas are brewing at S&T.</div>
-<div class="floattxt" style="text-align:left">Wondering what we're up to this week?  Check out our notebook!</div>
-<div class="floattxt" style="text-align:left">Living Fuel: The wonderful world of microbial fuel cells.</div>
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+<div id= "leftcolumn" style="height:700px;">
+<p style="font-size:18px; color:#085706" >Relevant Links</p>
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-<p style="font-size:18px; color:#085706" >A big "Thank you" to:</p>
 <ul style="text-align:left">
 <li style="padding-bottom:17px"><html><a href="http://www.synbiosafe.eu/" class="internal"  style="color:#085706">Synbiosafe</a></html></li>
 <li style="padding-bottom:17px"><html><a href="http://www.thehastingscenter.org/synthetic-biology-bioethics-briefing-book/" class="internal" style="color:#085706">The Hastings Center</a></html></li>
-<li style="padding-bottom:17px"><html><a href="http://www.ia-sb.eu/go/synthetic-biology/synthetic-biology/biosafety-biosecurity/" class="internal" style="color:#085706">IASB</a></html></li>
+<li style="padding-bottom:17px"><html><a href="http://www.who.int/csr/resources/publications/biosafety/Biosafety7.pdf" class="internal" style="color:#085706">WHO Laboratory Biosafety Manual</a></html></li>
+<li style="padding-bottom:17px"><html><a href="http://www.ia-sb.eu/go/synthetic-biology/synthetic-biology/biosafety-biosecurity/" class="internal" style="color:#085706">International Association Synthetic Biology (IASB)</a></html></li>
+<li style="padding-bottom:17px"><html><a href="http://www.absa.org/" class="internal" style="color:#085706">American Biological Safety Association (ABSA)</a></html></li>
 </ul>
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