Team:Freiburg/Content/HumanPracticeAndSafety/Safety

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<a href="https://2014.igem.org/Team:Freiburg/PolicyAndPractices/Safety/Symposium">Go back to the Symposium of Biosafety</div>
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<a href="https://2014.igem.org/Team:Freiburg/HumanPracticeAndSafety/Safety/viralvector">Go on to Viral Vector Safety</div>
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<div style="position: relative; float: right;"> <img class="img-no-border" style="max-width: 50px; margin-top:5px;" src=" https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/9/95/Freibur2014_pfeilrechts.png">  <!-- Pfeil fw--></a></div>
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<section id="PolicyAndPractices-Safety">
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<h1>Safety</h1>
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<h2 id="PolicyAndPractices-Safety-Introduction">Introduction</h2>
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<p>iGEM teams all around the world are trying to find solutions for issues that might influence not only laboratory work routine but also daily life in the near future. Due to this fact it is very important to think about possible dangers arising from synthetic biology. During our human practice we experienced a strong desire of the public for solutions that not only have biggest possible efficiency but in first line are safe. First we encountered this attitude in the broad public while we tried to explain them synthetic biology in general.
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(<a href="https://2014.igem.org/Team:Freiburg/PolicyAndPractices/Link-It-thestory">View the mindmap</a> and
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<a href="https://2014.igem.org/Team:Freiburg/PolicyAndPractices/Saturdayballoonfever">Saturday Balloon Fever</a>)
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They were mostly concerned about possible safety leaks. <p> After this experience we decided to take a look at what the experts of ethics and law are thinking about synthetic biology and therefore we attended the symposium: <a href="https://2014.igem.org/Team:Freiburg/PolicyAndPractices/Safety/Symposium">Risk of misuse in biology</a> - biosafety relevant research between freedom, progress and responsibility /Freiburg 2014/06/03. Here the same, most of the speakers were concerned about safety and security issues regarding this relatively new field of research.</p>
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<p>For this reason we wanted to start <a href="https://2014.igem.org/Team:Freiburg/PolicyAndPractices/Link-It-thestory"><em>Link-It</em></a> - gaining acceptances by overcoming fears. It is our strong believe that better education of the public alongside with identifying, occupying and minimizing the possible risks of our own project would benefit the general attitude towards synthetic biology.
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The linking of safety and security is, in our opinion, not only possible but mandatory. With people thinking that synthetic biologist around the world are creating Frankenstein it is almost impossible to build a trusted platform of sound debate. The spirit of iGEM is to perform projects that may be applicable in daily life. It is utopic to think that this will become real if we are not starting now to involve and educate the public. The shortcoming of such practices can be seen in modern gene technologies were a lot of applications might be possible and beneficial but the backing of the public is, especially in Europe not existent. This will also be limitations for research and application. You can have best ideas and lab-safety but will not be able to bring them to the market because of lacking support and fear from the public.</p>
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<h1>Symposium on the 3<sup>rd</sup> of July</h1>
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<p>For a general overview we identified possible risks in our lab and in synthetic biology in general. Firstly we concentrated on general lab safety.</p>
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<p>As our project is dealing with viral vectors, we care a lot about the issues of biosafety. Among other things we took part in an interdisciplinary symposium dealing with &ldquo;The risk of abuse in biosciences&rdquo;. We heard presentations about the biosafety-relevant research in between freedom, progress and responsibility. There were two to three experts/ speakers for every of the following topics: <br /> </p>
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<li>scientific basics of biosafety-relevant research</li>
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<li>biosafety in practice including research codes and research funding</li>
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<li>legal framework of biosafety-relevant research in international perspective</li>
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<li>risk ethic, research freedom and responsibility from a philosophical and sociological point of &nbsp;view</li>
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<li>biosafety relevant research and security against B-weapons</li>
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Environment
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<p>After every topic we had time for questions and discussions. In a short summary it is to say that research is very important, however there is always a risk of abuse. But this depends entirely on the person working with the subject of interest. In addition, there is also a special treatment for working with DURCs (dual use research of concern). Moreover, you have to be careful publicating your research results, but there should be no restrictions for publications.</p>
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<p>The symposium was organized by an institute of public law and unfortunately many of the participants were not familiar with a lot of biological background knowledge. So speaking about these themes fuelled baseless fears and a lot of skepticism. As a conclusion we remembered that people needed to be more sophisiticated about the huge and awesome profits of the synthetic biology. For that reason we organized the air balloon event and other policy and practice stuff.</p>
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Public/Humans
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<h1>Safety-Sheet regarding the work with viral vectors</h1>
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<p>To expand the usual safety- and check-in-forms we developed an additional safety-sheet which not only increases safety for scientists working directly with viral vectors but also aims to provide an easy to understand tool for people not involved in laboratory work. This is also part of our goals we want to achieve with LINK-it, to increase the acceptance of the public by giving them greater insights.</p>
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<p>We are providing the pMIG (viral vector) as a tool for easy gene delivery and generating cell lines under BSL1 conditions to the iGEM community. This spreadsheet, as a checklist for safety standards supplies future teams with the possibility to fast and on the point inspection of their projects safety (LINK registry).</p>
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<p align="center"><strong>Criteria</strong></p>
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Research and production
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Safety risk by unintentional release from the laboratory
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<p align="center"><strong>Explanation</strong></p>
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Safe laboratory work
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<p align="center"><strong>Our Project</strong></p>
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<p align="center">Human pathogenesis</p>
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<p>Application</p>
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<p>Danger of uncontrolled dispersal</p>
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<p>Is it possible that the viral vector causes any illness or irritation in humans</p>
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<p>Danger for health especially for medical therapeutically application&nbsp;</p>
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<p>We tested our viral vector for potential infection of human cells. Therefore we tried to infect HEK293T (human embryonic kidney) and A549 (lung cancer) cells. Non of our results indicated any infection of those cells. (LINK)</p>
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<p align="center">General safety of the viral vector</p>
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<p>Viral vectors differ from natural viruses. A virus needs at least three different genes to replicate. These are the gag, pol and env genes. In order to ensure higher safety a lot of viral vectors lack these genes. The viral vectors themselves can not reproduces themselves. The vector can integrate itself into the hosts genome, a process coined transduction, but cannot create new viral particles. Its more or less a cul-de-sac for the viral vector.</p>
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<p>We sequence our viral vector to ensure the lack of the three viral genes (gag, pol, env). In order to generate the viral vector we used the Phoenix cell line which harbors the three genes under different non-viral promoters to minimize the risk of recombination. (LINK registry seite)</p>
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<p align="center">Transmissibility</p>
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<p>How can the viral vector be transferred between cells/organisms. There are different means by which pathogens can be transmitted: by air, (body) fluids or by contact.</p>
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<p>We performed a extensive literature research on our viral vector prior to our lab work. We found that the viral vector we are using is solely transmittable via fluids. (LINK text) Nevertheless we performed all steps involving the viral vector with maximum carefulness. (LINK safety lab)</p>
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<p>Cells from which animals can be infected by the viral vector.</p>
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<p>The MMLV used in our project is highly specific for the mCAT1 receptor. This receptor variation of the CAT1 receptor is only found in rodent cells (mouse, rat. Human cells also carry a CAT1 receptor but with a different glycosylation motive and are therefore not recognized by the viral vector. ). (LINK receptor)</p>
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<p>How long is the timerange of survival of the viral vector until it becomes non-infectious.</p>
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<p>Besides literature research we wanted to test our viral vector for its half-life time. We started at a given time point and measured the exact percentage of infected murine cells. We repeated this for several time points using the same viral vector which was stored at 37 &deg;C. Our findings of a half-life of ~6 h matched those found in literature. (LINK literature and wiki )</p>
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<p>Is it possible for natural transmitter to come in contact with the viral vector.</p>
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<p>The only natural transmitter of our viral vector are rodents. Besides not having any rodents in our lab, the vector itself with its non-replicability ensured the safety standard.</p>
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<p>Is the vector used in only under lab conditions for research or is it going to be used in humans for clinical applications.</p>
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<p>The MMLV is, in our project only used for research purposes. The viral vector can cause leukemia. In clinical applications using viral vectors the amount of used vector is considerably higher. Furthermore the specificity viral vectors must be altered to enable the infection of human cells. With our significant lower virus titer and lower used amounts of viral vector suspension transduction is more than unlikely. (LINK zu links des textes)</p>
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<p>Every lab that works with genetically modified organisms (GMO) must ensure a certain standard of safety (Germany: Anhang I.2 GenTSV).</p>
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<p>After careful research and consultation of our administrative department safety officers the viral vector used in our project falls under the BSL1 category. To ensure safety at BSL1 we received safety training. (LINK zu safety form, BSL1 guidlines)</p>
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<h2 id="PolicyAndPractices-Safety-General-safety">General Wet Laboratory Safety:</h2>
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    <div class="row category-row">
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<div class="col-sm-6">
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<p>We worked in a BSL-1 laboratory, so the general safety measurements for such a facility were kept upright at any given time point. It was absolutely mandatory to wear protective clothing (labcoat, gloves, and closed shoes).
 +
Coordinated and thoroughly work in the laboratory is essential for establishing and maintaining safety standards in our wet lab with minimized risks for everybody working there. Besides receiving the mandatory safety training  we divided the laboratory in work areas for different parts of our project/steps in the laboratory work.
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<a href="https://igem.org/Safety/Safety_Form?team_id=1470">View our Safety Form for more information.</a>
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<img src ="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/a/a1/2014Freiburg_DSC1507_smaller.JPG" />
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<p></p><p></p>
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<img src ="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/4/4a/2014Freiburg_DSC1494_smaller.JPG" />
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</figure>
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<div class="col-sm-6">
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<p> Besides the distribution in the main laboratory where cloning and gel electrophoresis took placea large part of our wet lab was located in the cell culture. Working sterile under cell culture fume hood benefitted the safe handling of our system and demagnified the risk of parts escaping the laboratory. To further prevent contamination of the environment we autoclaved all our S-1 contaminated waste. This altogether ensured a safe environment to work in. </p></ br></ br></p>
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<figure>
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<img src ="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/1/16/2014Freiburg_DSC1492_smaller.JPG" />
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    </div>
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</section>
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<div class="row category-row">
 +
<div class="col-sm-6">
 +
<div class="container-fluid" style="float: left">
 +
<div style="position: relative; float: right; margin-top: 4px;">
 +
<a href="https://2014.igem.org/Team:Freiburg/PolicyAndPractices/Safety/Symposium">Go back to the Symposium of Biosafety</div>
 +
<div style="position: relative; float: left;"> <img class="img-no-border" style="max-width: 50px; margin-top:5px;" src=" https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/4/44/Freiburg2014_Navigation_Arrow_rv.png">  <!-- Pfeil rv--></a></div>
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</div>
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</div>
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<div class="col-sm-6">
 +
<div class="container-fluid" style="float: right">
 +
<div style="position: relative; float: left; margin-top: 4px;">
 +
<a href="https://2014.igem.org/Team:Freiburg/HumanPracticeAndSafety/Safety/viralvector">Go on to Viral Vector Safety</div>
 +
<div style="position: relative; float: right;"> <img class="img-no-border" style="max-width: 50px; margin-top:5px;" src=" https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2014/9/95/Freibur2014_pfeilrechts.png">  <!-- Pfeil fw--></a></div>
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</div>
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</div>
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</div>
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</body>
</body>
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</html>

Latest revision as of 22:07, 17 October 2014

The AcCELLerator

Safety

Introduction

iGEM teams all around the world are trying to find solutions for issues that might influence not only laboratory work routine but also daily life in the near future. Due to this fact it is very important to think about possible dangers arising from synthetic biology. During our human practice we experienced a strong desire of the public for solutions that not only have biggest possible efficiency but in first line are safe. First we encountered this attitude in the broad public while we tried to explain them synthetic biology in general. (View the mindmap and Saturday Balloon Fever) They were mostly concerned about possible safety leaks.

After this experience we decided to take a look at what the experts of ethics and law are thinking about synthetic biology and therefore we attended the symposium: Risk of misuse in biology - biosafety relevant research between freedom, progress and responsibility /Freiburg 2014/06/03. Here the same, most of the speakers were concerned about safety and security issues regarding this relatively new field of research.

For this reason we wanted to start Link-It - gaining acceptances by overcoming fears. It is our strong believe that better education of the public alongside with identifying, occupying and minimizing the possible risks of our own project would benefit the general attitude towards synthetic biology. The linking of safety and security is, in our opinion, not only possible but mandatory. With people thinking that synthetic biologist around the world are creating Frankenstein it is almost impossible to build a trusted platform of sound debate. The spirit of iGEM is to perform projects that may be applicable in daily life. It is utopic to think that this will become real if we are not starting now to involve and educate the public. The shortcoming of such practices can be seen in modern gene technologies were a lot of applications might be possible and beneficial but the backing of the public is, especially in Europe not existent. This will also be limitations for research and application. You can have best ideas and lab-safety but will not be able to bring them to the market because of lacking support and fear from the public.

For a general overview we identified possible risks in our lab and in synthetic biology in general. Firstly we concentrated on general lab safety.

Environment Public/Humans
Research and production Safety risk by unintentional release from the laboratory Safe laboratory work

Application

Danger of uncontrolled dispersal

Danger for health especially for medical therapeutically application 

General Wet Laboratory Safety:

We worked in a BSL-1 laboratory, so the general safety measurements for such a facility were kept upright at any given time point. It was absolutely mandatory to wear protective clothing (labcoat, gloves, and closed shoes). Coordinated and thoroughly work in the laboratory is essential for establishing and maintaining safety standards in our wet lab with minimized risks for everybody working there. Besides receiving the mandatory safety training we divided the laboratory in work areas for different parts of our project/steps in the laboratory work. View our Safety Form for more information.

Besides the distribution in the main laboratory where cloning and gel electrophoresis took placea large part of our wet lab was located in the cell culture. Working sterile under cell culture fume hood benefitted the safe handling of our system and demagnified the risk of parts escaping the laboratory. To further prevent contamination of the environment we autoclaved all our S-1 contaminated waste. This altogether ensured a safe environment to work in.