Team:Imperial/Safety

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Imperial iGEM 2014

Safety

We submitted our completed safety form by September 1st and this was approved.

In the Lab

All our team members received safety training before being permitted to start working in the lab. This included training in fire procedures, waste disposal, accident reporting, cleanliness and good laboratory practice. This was all done in accordance with our Department of Bioengineering’s safety guidelines which can be found here.

JAll work carried out was within the biosafety guidelines established by Imperial College Safety Department: Site Genetic Modification Safety Committee which can be found here. UK regulations were adhered to.

The appropriate personal protective equipment was used which included lab coats gloves and where necessary safety spectacles.

Public and Environment

The Gluconacetobacter and E. coli strains used are not thought to pose any risk to the safety and health of the general public as they would not be able to compete outside the lab.

Furthermore the potential to misuse components of our project is limited. It may make being able to produce functionalised cellulose more accessible to the general public or 'DIY Bio' labs, perhaps persons with malicious intentions could functionalise with toxic proteins or other harmful substances. This, however is a problem shared by all iGEM and synthetic biology projects and not unique to our work.

As our project seeks to produce a useable biomaterial from our bacteria we paid special attention to issues of containment. The end product (the physical bacterial cellulose paper) will not contain any bacterial organisms.