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From 2010.igem.org

Safety

1. Would any of your project ideas raise safety issues in terms of:

• researcher safety,
• public safety, or
• environmental safety?

Yes, as we are planning to make a genetically modified organism (Lactococcus Lactis) for ingestion by humans as well as the production of a protein based sweetener. This has the potential to cause problems with environmental safety as was seen with other GMOs introduced into the environment. To try and circumvent this we designed the construct to be self excising so that after the protein ahs been produced the GMO will revert to a wild type before human consumption.

2. Do any of the new BioBrick parts (or devices) that you made this year raise any safety issues? If yes,

• did you document these issues in the Registry?
• how did you manage to handle the safety issue?
• How could other teams learn from your experience?

No. All biobricks made have already been tested in multiple organisms and have been found to be safe.

3. Is there a local biosafety group, committee, or review board at your institution?

• If yes, what does your local biosafety group think about your project?
• If no, which specific biosafety rules or guidelines do you have to consider in your country?

Yes, our project has the backing of the dept of biotechnology, IIT Madras. They have been provided us with Biosafety level 1 facilities for all our experimental work.

4. 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?

As all of the teams are essentially undergraduate efforts, we are to a large extent unfamiliar with the consequences of most safety protocols. We reccomend that as a part of the jamboree a small symposium on the importance of safety practices so that teams who were unable to attend such seminars to learn about these practices.

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