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Team:GeorgiaTech/Ethics and Safety
From 2010.igem.org
Team Member
| Atta Hassan | Marc Pline's Bio Safety Training |
|---|---|
| Debika Mitra | MSE Safety Training |
| Amy Schwartz | Marc Pline's Bio Safety Training |
| Mitesh Agrawal | Marc Pline's Bio Safety Training |
| Monica Huynh | Marc Pline's Bio Safety Training |
| Margo Clark | Marc Pline's Bio Safety Training |
| Gita Mahmoudabadi | Marc Pline's Bio Safety Training |
| Christian Mandrycky | Marc Pline's Bio Safety Training |
| Sid Tantia | Marc Pline's Bio Safety Training |
| Scott Holmes | Marc Pline's Bio Safety Training |
Note: Marc Pline is from the GT School of Biology
1. Would any of your project ideas raise safety issues in terms of:
Our idea involves the insertion of the AOX gene from the sacred lotus, which redirects energy from the metabolic system to be released as heat in response to a cold-shock. The protein product produced is directed to the inner membrane of the cell, and not released into the environment. As our research is confined to in vitro usage at this point, and the components used have no known adverse effects on the environment, there is very little risk associated with a potential accident involving our project. The research pursued does not pose any known safety hazards to researchers, the public, or the environment. The strains of E. coli we utilized were non-pathogenic, standard lab strains that are safely used in a Biosafety Level 1 laboratory setting. 2. Do any of the new BioBrick parts (or devices) that you made this year raise any safety issues? If yes,
We constructed a bacterial plasmid containing the AOX gene with a targeting sequence, OmpA, and promoter, HybB, which have no known biosafety issues. 3. Is there a local biosafety group, committee, or review board at your institution?
The Occupational Health and Safety Committee and the Environmental Health and Safety Office of the Georgia Institute of Technology has approved Professor Eric Gaucher’s laboratory for Biosafety Level 1 Research. 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? Our group has discussed the sharp learning curve associated with the first year of a team’s experience with iGEM. Although our institution offered, and we all attended, a biological laboratory safety class, there were many things we learned along the way, specific to research performed in the bacterial genetic engineering laboratory. We would propose a collaboration of iGEM members to produce an online, visual, one-hour introductory course on the basic biosafety issues that could arise during the iGEM research process. |
