Team:StanfordBrownSpelman/Safety

From 2014.igem.org

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                         <h5><center>Working with Live Wasps</center></h5>
                         <h5><center>Working with Live Wasps</center></h5>
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                         <h6> The public often responded with surprised expressions and the occasional gasp whenever we mentioned that we caught our own wasps for our waterproofing project. Wasps have frightening reputations, mostly because they defend themselves with venomous stings – but just like bacteria, some wasps are less dangerous than others. We were fortunate enough to work with the European Paper Wasp (Polistes dominula), which is a relatively non-aggressive species of paper wasp. We also caught our wasps under the guidance of Dr. Dave Kavanaugh, chairman and curator of entomology at the California Academy of Sciences. <br></br>
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                         <h6> The public often responded with surprised expressions and the occasional gasp whenever we mentioned that we caught our own wasps for our waterproofing project. Wasps have frightening reputations, mostly because they defend themselves with venomous stings – but just like bacteria, some wasps are less dangerous than others. We were fortunate enough to work with the European Paper Wasp (<i>Polistes dominula</i>), which is a relatively non-aggressive species of paper wasp. We also caught our wasps under the guidance of Dr. Dave Kavanaugh, chairman and curator of entomology at the California Academy of Sciences. <br></br>
Dr. Kavanaugh's tutelage got us through our wasp wranglin' escapade with no injuries and minimal stress to the wasps. He provided us with butterfly nets, with which it was an easy feat to catch the wasps in mid-air, as they fly rather slowly when near their nests. The wasps are not aggressive unless their nest is disturbed or if they've been trapped in a net. While both of these situations did inevitably occur, we were safe to insert gloved hands into the nets to coax trapped wasps into 2mL tubes, as the wasps cannot sting through nitrile gloves. Once in the tubes, we placed the wasps in an insulated container with ice. This calmed them down to a lethargic state, at which point we could proceed with dissections and RNA extraction. </h6>  
Dr. Kavanaugh's tutelage got us through our wasp wranglin' escapade with no injuries and minimal stress to the wasps. He provided us with butterfly nets, with which it was an easy feat to catch the wasps in mid-air, as they fly rather slowly when near their nests. The wasps are not aggressive unless their nest is disturbed or if they've been trapped in a net. While both of these situations did inevitably occur, we were safe to insert gloved hands into the nets to coax trapped wasps into 2mL tubes, as the wasps cannot sting through nitrile gloves. Once in the tubes, we placed the wasps in an insulated container with ice. This calmed them down to a lethargic state, at which point we could proceed with dissections and RNA extraction. </h6>  

Revision as of 08:33, 16 October 2014

Stanford–Brown–Spelman iGEM 2014 — BioBricks

Safety Form
Our lab safety form can be found here .
Our Lab

Our lab is unique in that it is located in building 239, the Astrobiology and Life Sciences Research Laboratory, at NASA Ames Research Center. The surface of the building is pockmarked to look like the surface of the moon.

Besides being the home for the Stanford-Brown-Spelman iGEM team, The Astrobiology and Life Sciences Research Laboratories contain the Human Environmental Test Facility and the Advanced Studies Laboratories (ASL), used for research in biomedicine, astrobiology, ecosystem science, Closed Ecological Life-Support Systems (CELSS), Environmental Controls and Life Support Systems (ECLSS), nanotechnology, and Synthetic Biology. The Astrobiology facilities include basic and applied research laboratories in astrochemistry, the cosmic evolution of biogenic elements and molecules, planetary pre-biotic chemistry, geology, the early organization and evolution of life, the evolution of complex organisms, and ecological studies. Some laboratory facilities include instrument development capabilities and analytical equipment for the characterization of gas and aqueous chemistry, instruments for the detection of various biomarkers including sugars and organics, microbiology facilities, including the culture of microbial mat communities and planetary protection testing, electron and RAMAN microscopy facilities, molecular biology capabilities, and bioinformatics computational capabilities. Laboratories in this facility are operated by NASA personnel and the University of California.

Image:Example2_Lab_1.png|The building our lab is in! Image:Example2_Lab_2.png|The inside of our lab! Image:Example2_Lab_3.png|Team Member 3 doing an experiment Image:Example2_Lab_4.png|Working in biosafety cabinets Image:Example2_Lab_5.png|Team all gloved up and ready for work! Image:Example2_Lab_6.png|Equipment that we use to do SCIENCE! Image:Example2_Lab_7.png|We decorated this part of our lab Image:Example2_Lab_8.png|Whatever else you want
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