Minimising risks to the safety and health of team members, or other people working in the lab:

All of our team members have completed lab inductions and thorough safety training before being allowed to work in the laboratory. Although our bacteria, E.coli DH5-alpha, is labelled as a Risk Group 1 microorganism and should pose no individual or community risk, lab coats and latex gloves were worn at all times, in order to avoid contamination of cultures. Bunsen burners will not be left unsupervised and will not be used after hours, in order to ensure that in case of an emergency, university staff would be present and able to offer immediate help. When working with UV light during gel extraction, a protective face shield was always worn, and care taken to ensure no skin was exposed to UV, for example between gloves and lab coat. In order to start working with CdCl2 we completed a risk assessment form that was reviewed and approved by our supervisors. When working with Cadmium we followed the lab safety instructions given by the University of York Chemistry Department, using a fume cupboard, gloves, lab coats and safety specs.

Minimising risks to the environment and/or general public (from waste disposal, or from materials escaping from lab):

The organism we have used for our project belongs to the Escherichia coli K-12 strain, one of the bacterial model organisms widely used in microbiology and molecular genetics research. Unlike the wild type strains, which cause food poisoning, this particular strain is not pathogenic. The risk assessment of the derivatives of E. coli K-12 (http://epa.gov/biotech_rule/pubs/fra/fra004.htm) shows that the strain is incapable of colonising the human gastrointestinal tract, because it lacks cell wall components that are necessary for attachment to the intestinal walls. Although the bacteria could suffer unpredictable mutations, we believe that our genetically modified product would not be able to compete in the environment, because of the expression of energetically costly genes. However, in order to minimise the risk of our bacteria getting into the environment, we made sure to adequately dispose of our plates and samples, autoclaving all containers and glassware that housed our microorganism. All of our work was clearly labelled so as to avoid accidental disposal of cultures. We disposed of our Cadmium containing waste in appropriate containers that were then collected by the Chemistry Laboratory Staff and work surfaces were regularly disinfected with ethanol.

Risks to security through malicious mis-use by individuals, groups, or countries:

We have worked exclusively with non-pathogenic bacteria that would not pose a threat to either humans or the environment. Access to the university’s laboratories was restricted and only members of the department could access them during working hours. After hours, only university staff and members of the iGEM team were allowed access to the laboratories.

Features we have designed to minimise any risks:

We are planning on introducing a kill switch that would render our bacteria unable to survive when environmental conditions change, which would minimise the risk of an accidental release into the environment. However, we will only be able to do this once our project is complete, as we will have to account for factors such as where the bacteria would be used and what pH, temperature and medium it would need to thrive in.