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From 2014.igem.org

Safety / Safety form

1. Your Training

a) Have your team members received any safety training yet?

Yes, we have already received safety training.

b) Please describe the things you learned (or will learn) in your safety training.

- general instructions how to work and behave in a lab
- rules to keep the lab clean (lab service)
- location of security-relevant objects such as eye showers, first aid kit etc.
- instructions on lab equipment such as centrifuges, heaters, fume hoods etc.
- use of dangerous substances
- record requirement for GMOs
- prohibition of unattended working: at least one advisor has to be present
- duty of notification on unusualness
- authority to give directives
- briefing of all women concerning possible dangers for expectant mothers

c) Please give a link to the laboratory safety training requirements of your institution (college, university, community lab, etc). Or, if you cannot give a link, briefly describe the requirements.

requirements link

2. Your local rules and regulations

a) Who is responsible for biological safety at your institution? (You might have an Institutional Biosafety Committee, an Office of Environmental Health and Safety, a single Biosafety Officer, or some other arrangement.) Have you discussed your project with them? Describe any concerns they raised, and any changes you made in your project based on your discussion.

At our university, there is Dr. Petra Bohmer-Brinks as the superior “representative for biological safety“. Furthermore one of our advisors, Dr. Thomas Reinard, and also Prof. Jutta Papenbrock are educated after the “genetic engineering act” § 15.
Our advisors, Dr. Reinard and Prof. Peterhänsel, oversee and also help us planning our lab work. Concerning genetically-engineered works they are constrained to confer with Dr. Petra Bohmer- Brinks, who is in the end responsible by law.
Since the establishment of the “International Gene Synthesis Consortium (IGSC)” all included companies examine DNA-syntheses for sequence-parts that could act as a danger for the public. In our case it was noted that one of our chosen domains derives from Clostridium. As a consequence we got a warning from the synthesising company that an import of the construct into the USA might break the laws. Because of that Dr. Bohmer-Brinks advised us to contact companies which do also import biological material from the relevant lists (e.g. organisms being on the list of the “Australia group”) into the USA.
As an alternative, the chosen domain has to be exchanged by a pendant, whose origin cannot be found on the mentioned lists.

b) What are the biosafety guidelines of your institution? Please give a link to these guidelines, or briefly describe them if you cannot give a link.

Most of the laws that we take as guidelines for our work are written especially for Germany and therefore in German. It is not possible to translate them into English one-to-one. So we briefly describe them here.

1. “Gentechnische-Sicherheitsverordnung (GenTSV)” (genetic engineering safety ordinance) Is an ordinance on the security levels and safety measures for genetic engineering operations in genetic engineering facilities (Genetic Engineering Safety Ordinance - GenTSV). It also describes how a disposal of GMOs has to be done.

2. “Technische Regel für Biologische Arbeitsstoffe 100 (TRBA100)” (technical rules for biological agents).
“The Technical Rules for Biological Agents (TRBA) reflect the state of requirements in terms of safety, occupational health, hygiene and work science with respect to activities involving the handling of biological agents. They are drawn up by the Ausschuss für Biologische Arbeitsstoffe (ABAS) - Committee for Biological Agents - and adapted by the Committee in accordance with developments.” link

c) In your country, what are the regulations that govern biosafety in research laboratories? Please give a link to these regulations, or briefly describe them if you cannot give a link.

1. Gentechnikgesetz (GenTG)(genetic engineering act)
„In Germany, genetic engineering is stipulated in the Genetic Engineering Act It aims both to protect against potential risks arising from the application of genetic engineering as well as to facilitate exploitation of and exploration into genetic engineering.. Essentially, it regulates activities of development and application of genetically modified organisms, in laboratories for example, and also governs deliberate releases of genetically modified organisms into the environment.“ link

2. Biostoffverordnung (BioStoffV) §1 loosly translated: (1) The “Biostoffverordnung” is applied for work with biological working material. It regulates actions to protect the safety and health of employees. Furthermore, it regulates actions to protect people who are not directly affected by the biologic material. (2) The BioStoffV is also valid for work being subject to the Gentechnikrecht (genetic technology law), if there are no equal or stronger regulations on protection of the employees. link

3. Allgemeine Stellungnahmen der ZKBS (general recommendations of the ZKBS -Central Committee on Biological Safety) link