Team:Davidson-MissouriW/Safety

Would any of your project ideas raise safety issues in terms of researcher safety, public safety, or environmental safety?
Our project raises issues of researcher safety with regard to exposure to biohazardous material (ethidium bromide, acrylamide) and ultraviolet radiation. It also raises environmental safety issues with the disposal of recombinant bacteria and biohazardous material. The parts and devices we made pose no hazards.

Do any of the new BioBrick parts that you made this year raise any safety issues?
None of our BioBrick parts raises safety issues beyond those associated with reagents used to manipulate DNA and working with a laboratory strain of E. coli.

Is there a local biosafety group, committee, or review board at your institution?
The Biology Departments at Davidson College and Missouri Western State University have policies concerning general laboratory safety, treatment and disposal of biohazardous materials, protection of laboratory personnel, and safety training of student laboratory researchers. We followed all local guidelines and regulations.

Do you have any other ideas how to deal with safety issues that could be useful for future iGEM competitions? How could parts, devices and systems be made even safer through biosafety engineering?
We believe that the best way to deal with safety issues that could be useful for future iGEM competitions is through education. By educating students, researchers, and the public about the possible risks and dangers associated with synthetic biology, they will know how to avoid unnecessary dangers. Biosafety engineering can be used to improve and lower the risks and dangers of different parts, devices, and systems.