Team:GeorgiaTech/Ethics and Safety
From 2010.igem.org
Team Member
Team Member | Training |
---|---|
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:
The Georgia Tech iGem project involves bacterial thermogenesis via cloning of a naturally occuring plant gene. All genetic parts involved are found currently in natural plants or bacteria and none pose a threat to environmental, public, or researcher safety. All bacteria strains used are nonpathogenic. Further, it is highly unlikely that genes under experimentation would cause adverse effects even if expressed in wild type bacterial colonies, as the heat production is both benign and extremely energy intensive, which would be a highly unfavorable trait. All laboratory materials, both biological and chemical, 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,
The BioBrick device constructs contain an alternative oxidase gene (AOX) attached to a targeting sequence (OmpA) with a promoter, HybB; none of these 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. All group members attended an institute biological laboratory safety class, but many things were learned along the way, specific to genetic engineering research. 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. |