Team:Washington/Safety

From 2014.igem.org

Latest revision as of 01:52, 18 October 2014

1. Do the biological materials used in your lab work pose any of the following risks? Please describe.

1. Risks to the safety and health of team members or others working in the lab?

Using E.coli poses a potential risk to the health and safety to our team members working in the lab if it is handled improperly or consumed. May cause irritation to skin, eyes, and respiratory tract; may affect kidneys.

2. Risks to the safety and health of the general public, if released by design or by accident?

The risks to the safety and health of the general public are the same as those for individuals directly working with these biological materials.

3. Risks to the environment, if released by design or by accident?

The risks to the are the same as those for individuals directly working with these biological materials.

4. Risks to security through malicious misuse by individuals, groups, or countries?

There is slight concern for the misuse of our systems, since any gene could be substituted in place of the existing outputs.

2. What safety training have you received (or plan to receive in the future)? Provide a brief description, and a link to your institution’s safety training requirements, if available.

All student members of our team have been trained by our postdoc and graduate student advisers about proper lab techniques, lab etiquette, and biohazard waste disposal. All team members have completed the University of Washington's online training in biosafety, fume hood use, and managing lab chemicals. Advisers have been trained by their respective labs in accordance with the University of Washington Environmental Health and Safety committee's regulations. www.ehs.washington.edu/ and have had regular university EH&S inspections to make sure the lab is up to university lab standards

3. Under what biosafety provisions will / do you work?

a. Please provide a link to your institution biosafety guidelines.

- www.ehs.washington.edu -

b. Does your institution have an Institutional Biosafety Committee, or an equivalent group? If yes, have you discussed your project with them?

The University of Washington Environmental Health and Safety (UW EHS) committee determines biosafety regulations and guidelines for all labs associated with our campus. We have not discussed this specific iGEM project with members of the EHS committee; however, we are working closely with our sponsor labs and have been trained according to the guidelines which they follow.

c. Does your country have national biosafety regulations or guidelines? If so, please provide a link to these regulations or guidelines if possible?

The United States of America has national biosafety regulations and guidelines determined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Specifics about their guidelines can be found at www.cdc.gov/biosafety/

d. Does your country have national biosafety regulations or guidelines? If so, please provide a link to these regulations or guidelines if possible?

The United States of America has national biosafety regulations and guidelines determined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Specifics about their guidelines can be found at www.cdc.gov/biosafety/

e. According to the WHO Biosafety Manual, what is the BioSafety Level rating of your lab? (Check the summary table on page 3, and the fuller description that starts on page 9.) If your lab does not fit neatly into category 1, 2, 3, or 4, please describe its safety features [see 2013.igem.org/Safety for help].

The BioSafety level of our lab is category 2. The lab room used is equipped to deal with category 2 hazards, for example, it contains a fume hood. However, for this project, only category 1 cells were used; namely, non-pathogenic E. coli and yeast.