Team:CUHKSZ/pages/safety
Safety
Laboratory Safety
All our team members have already received safety training and security training. The biosafety level of our workspace is Level 1. We use a biosafety cabinet to handle biological materials. We will use low-risk organisms (E. coli Nissle 1917 and A. pasteurianus CGMCC1.41) in all experiments. To avoid stabbing infection, we will avoid using needles. To avoid creating aerosol, we will conduct most experiments in the biosafety cabinet and seal the culture medium when taking it out of the biosafety cabinet. Since our product will be taken in as a drink, before we taste the product, we will make sure it is safe and conduct sterilization. During experiments, we will use personal protective equipment to protect ourselves. We only use non-pathogenic strains of an organism, deciding that animal use experiments are not yet warranted or avoiding plant infection experiments. We will conduct Autoclaving on the culture medium to ensure that no living microorganisms will flow into the natural environment.
Acids and corrosive chemicals like boric acid are used in our project that might be hazardous. We are going to culture E. coli Nissle 1917 and A. pasteurianus CGMCC1.41 in the culture medium. The technic of genetic engineering and coculture may be used. Our bacteria may produce aerosols during culture accidentally, but they're not harmful to humans. We won't use needles or something else that will accidentally stick us. Our bacteria will be inactivated using standard lab protocols. We don't collect any data about people, the continued development of our project won't require environmental release. We won't plan to release any organism or product derived from our project.
Project Safety
Our bacteria will be genetically engineered to degrade ethanol in an alcohol-containing solution: liquor or wine. An enzyme called AdhE will be modified and transferred into target bacteria and assist in ethanol decomposition. A special container will be designed to control the concentration of ethanol for the regular survival and degradation process of the bacteria.
Our project will design a domestic device that contains genetically modified E. coli. Our product is to be used in the human body, or in food, as a consumer product that ordinary people buy. Our product will be mixed with alcoholic beverages when using it, so there may be side effects for users to drink such drinks. The growth of our bacteria requires a high concentration of ethanol, they are hard to spread if they enter the environment. Our bacteria will be held in a containing device when being used, there will be a biomedical engineering technic to combine the bacteria with the device and prevent their escape.
Organisms including Escherichia coli Nissle 1917 and Acetobacter pasteurianus CGMCC1.41 will be used in our project. There is no risk could these organisms pose to us in the laboratory, or to our community, or the environment if they escape the lab. E. coli Nissle 1917 is a pathogen that will cause a wide range of gastrointestinal infections. If E. coli Nissle 1917 escapes the lab, an inappropriate amount of intake of this organism may cause diseases such as colitis. Although the Nissle 1970 strain is probiotics, inactivation is still important before deploying the devices after use. Since we cannot depend on that every user will actively sterilization the devices, an automatic/simple inactivation mechanism should be included in the devices. A. pasteurianus CGMCC1.41 has no virulence factors. It is a benign microorganism that has been suggested as a pathogen of neither humans, animals, nor plants. All the strains used by the team are probiotics that can be used in humans. There is no report that these bacteria have biological safety concerns. Our organisms for chassis are the same as our whole organism planning to use in the subject.