Team:USTC/Project/safe

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An Integrated Platform Based on Bacterial Microcompartment for de novo Proteinaceous Artificial Organelles


overview

While the study of synthetic biology may lead to more efficient ways to produce medical treatments, to solve pollution problems.etc., it may also lead to synthesis or redesign of harmful pathogens (e.g., smallpox) by malicious actors.So it is necessary that we make sure we conduct experiment with a non-infectious host organism and estimate the potential risks before and when doing the experiment.Also strictly following some standards on synthetic biology concerning the safety is also required.

experimental safety

  • Just like any other practical activities in school science, all microbiology investigations require the user to adopt good laboratory practice. The preliminary experiment training made sure that every one of us get familiar with the whole system of basic microbiology investigations and get adroit skills especially for those in related majors.
  • Several regulations has been set to guarantee personal protection.
    • Food or drink should not be stored or consumed in a laboratory or prep room that is used for microbiology.
    • No-one should lick labels, apply cosmetics, chew gum, suck pens or pencils or smoke in a laboratory or prep room.
    • Facilities should be provided within the laboratory or prep room for hands to be washed with soap after handling microbial cultures and whenever leaving the lab.
    • Paper towels or some other hygienic method should be used for drying hands. If contamination of the hands is suspected, then they should be washed immediately with soap and water.
    • Cuts or abrasions should be protected by the use of waterproof dressings or by wearing disposable gloves.
    • Safety glasses should be worn in some certain circumstances,eg. when using a UV lamp.
  • Work Safety in our lab is categorized into two levels as follows:
    • Level 1: organisms we work with have little known risk and are observed in the closed containers in which they are grown. Microbes (K12) we growing is tested as non-risk and harmless, furthermore, by culturing closed containers which are taped before examination and remain unopened unless the cultures inside have been killed by the autoclave sterilizer. We made every effort to exclude any possibility of unsafety.
    • Level 2: biological reagents we use are considered on environmental and human safety. We choose GelRed instead of EB as our nuleic acid stains.

asking the experts

answering key questions

For iGEM 2010 teams are asked to detail how they approached any issues of biological safety associated with their projects. Specifically, teams should consider the following questions:

  1. Would any of your project ideas raise safety issues in terms of:
    • researcher safety,
    • public safety, or
    • environmental safety?
  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?
  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?
  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?

 

safety issues in China

On the June 24, 2010， a symposium was held in Suzhou by CAST new ideas new doctrine Academic Salon, discussing biological safety issues in China.

The issues includes

***how to limit the abuse of synthetic biology technology and prevent bio-hacking, biological terrorists, in order to protect public safety.

***What the influence of synthetic life may be on the ecosystem

how to control the polution manipulated genes may do to the environment

etc. For more information>>[http://www.biols.cas.cn/xwdt/zhxw/201007/t20100701_2890628.html]

security

We held a discussion on this open-security delima and generated some suggestions for this issue.

  • Precaution
    • A declaration is extremely necessary: The declaration should include not only the authorship but also the committement not to misuse the project.Obviously, a general declaration for all the iGEM projects is needed.
    • The registration information for OpenWetWare should be audited under a strict standard: Although an extensvie group of users means a large influence, the armory of synthetic biology world without any fence would be a threat to our society since none can guarantee all the prospective users are research-oriented.
  • Sanction: Given the unpredictability and severity of crimes in biology field, the levels of punishment are hard to define. However, any possible damage should have a punishment level in the scope of legal regulations.
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