Safety

Safety is a significant concern in the design of our project. We wanted to make sure not only that we were safe when working on our project, but that the final system that we designed would be safe to use in the field. We worked to ensure this in a number of ways, which can be outlined below:

Laboratory Safety

All of the students working on the NJAU_China iGEM team undertook all of the necessary training as outlined in the Nanjing Agricultural University’s safety policy. In brief, this included a Biosafety course as well as Workplace Hazardous Materials Information Systems (WHMIS) training. In addition, students took a course introducing them to the necessary laboratory skills where they learned how to perform required techniques both safely and efficiently.

The lab we worked in has following rules to guaranty student researchers’ safety

• Use and do not lend the personal entrance card of the laboratory
• Do not eat and drink in the laboratory
• Wear Nitrile gloves, closed toe shoes and lab coats
• Chemicals possessing potential risks should be kept and used in special areas

The project that we undertook exposed little risk to the students, the only organism used in our project was a commonly used lab-strain of Escherichia coli, which is designated as a biosafety level 1 organism. All necessary chemicals and reagents were handled with care and Material Safety Data Sheets were consulted when dealing with new compounds. Finally, students working in the lab were also supervised at all times by senior lab members, advisors or our lab manager.

Safety in the Design

In addition to the safety of ourselves, the safe design of our system was also a major concern. Immobilized genetic engineered bacteria is used in Our system.

Figure 1. In doing experiments

Our Safety Forms