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Safety Procedures
Working with and Engineering E. coli
Bacteria are often viewed by the public as little more than agents of disease. It is true that E. coli can cause various illnesses, but the strains we work with in the lab have been engineered to specialize in plasmid, ethanol, or fatty acid production. Due to strain selection, engineering, and safety precautions, there is a very low risk of the E. coli ever leaving the lab environment. Even if it were to leave the lab, the recombinant DNA included into the strains just cause overproduction of products already found in E. coli, posing little or no harm to people and the environment.
Safety Precautions
Standard BS1 safety measures were taken at all times while working in the lab. Gloves, lab coats, and goggles were worn while doing any bench work. Any work done with media without an antibiotic was done inside a reverse pressure lab cabinet. Surfaces and lab equipment was sterilized with ethanol.
End Product Safety
There might be safety concerns with the production of ethanol and biodiesel in large quantities, as both of these products are flammable. The volumes and concentrations of these compounds that were used, produced, and tested in our laboratory environment were small enough to not pose a hazard. If the process is moved to a larger scale, the process will have to go under the same safety processes and regulations that normal ethanol and fuel production processes undergo.
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