Team:GreatBay SZ/Safety
Safety
Introduction
Safety is the prerequisite for conducting experiments. Every project needs to ensure that whether it is the laboratory, the microorganisms used in the experiment, or the hardware, they all meet the safety standards. GreatBay_SZ has also done much work on safety. No matter it is for ourselves or users, there are corresponding measures.
Laboratory Safety
Our lab at Bluepha is classified as Biosafety Level 1. In the laboratory, we must comply with the Laboratory Safety Measures & Operative Protocols. It provides general experimental protocols and detailed instructions for the experimenter, such as dressing, reagent storage, and waste disposal. Besides, each team using the laboratory shall take turns in charge of the hygiene. This ensures that the materials are abundant and the experimental area is clean. In addition, all members who participated in the experiment have passed the online safety test and the practical experimental operation test. At the end of the day, we also need to organize our working area. These show that we are operating qualified and standardized in a safe laboratory.
Microorganisms Safety
This year, we created spores from Saccharomyces cerevisae that cannot mature. They were engineered to have barcodes in their genome that can be detected with CRISPR Cas12a. We will use these spores to identify goods such as antiques and artworks.
The microorganisms we used in the project is S. cerevisiae BY4741 and E. coli DH5α which are totally harmless for human and can even be edible.
The instruments we used were all sterilized under high temperature and pressure. Every experiment and step was rigorously checked. These will decrease the risk of pollution of other unknown bacteria.
The primers needed by PCR were bought from formal synthetic biology factories. Some expensive primers are synthesized by ourselves in a strict way. So the sources of primers can be safe.
Before we put the spores into the environment, we’ll make them lose ability of reproduction with high temperature of water, so that they can not reproduce in the environment. So the spores can not pose any threat to our life.