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Biological Safety
Q: Would any of your project ideas raise safety issues in terms of researcher safety, public safety, or environmental safety?
A: In our project we faced the problem of integrating recombinant genes or standard parts in the genome of E. coli and yeast. In order to select right integrants you need a selective marker (we used an antibiotic resistance because in our opinion it is easier than methods that relay for example on auxotrophy). The permanent integration of an antibiotic resistance marker could raise safety issues. Then, to cope with this problem and overcome it, our integrative vectors include the possibility to excide the antibiotic resistance gene from integrants.
Q: Is there a local biosafety group, committee, or review board at your institution?
A: There is a biosafety board in our lab and also in our University: Università degli Studi di Pavia biosafety department.
Q: What does your local biosafety group think about your project?
A: Since standard safety routine were enough for our work, the biosafety board approved our project without any particular restriction. It took care to train students in using devices and instruments following all safety prescriptions. In particular, we have managed ethidium bromide, hydrochloric acid 33%, xylene and IPTG following all safety prescritions.
Q: Do any of the new BioBrick parts that you made this year raise any safety issues?
A: All BioBricks we have design and built are intrisically safe and do not raise any safety issue since they do not produce or have been produced using plasmids/bacterial strains containing toxins or pathogenetic factors.
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