Team:SZPT-CHINA/Safety

● Laboratory Safety Construction
To ensure the laboratory safety is not only good for the researchers ourselves, but also to protect the safety of schools and society. Only by achieving real safety can we maximize the value of our laboratory and project. Thus, the lab safety is the top priority in our research project, and we are committed to obeying the safety rules to meet the requirements of iGEM.

In addition:During the COVID-19 epidemic, we have attached great importance to the health of each team member and we have taken some preventive measures, including:
· Request each member to report daily temperature and other health conditions.
· Request each member to wear masks before going out.
· In case of emergency, suspected patients will take nucleic acid test according to the rules, and they will be hospitalized and quarantined if the infection is confirmed.
● Lab Safety Management Regulations
Item Management regulations
In and out of the lab Dressing should meet our lab rules and hands should be cleaned with hand sanitizer.
During the experiment All participants are obliged to wear lab coat and gloves; masks and protective goggles should be taken on when necessary; Long hair must be tied back neatly.
Relevant regulations It is forbidden to smoke, drink or litter around.
Professional knowledge All participants are required to take professional training, learn relevant knowledge, skills and experience, and should be familiar with the lab safety rules.
Person in charge Everyone is required to provide a daily report concerning their presence, and usage of reagents and equipment in the lab.
Environment and equipment It should be equipped with chemical hoods, biosafety cabinets, washing equipment, first-aid kit, universal suction hood, fire extinguisher, etc.
Regular maintenance work For long-term electrical equipment such as refrigerators, incubators and shakers, it is necessary to regularly check their conditions to see whether electricity leakage or device damage would happen, and record their operation situation.
Waste classification Bacterial plates and liquid culture must to be sterilized before being discarded; The broken glasswares should be processed and disposed in the corresponding place.
Preparative regimen Open wounds that are caused by broken laboratory glassware should be cleaned with saline solution and covered by bandage. Burn wounds should be rinsed with clean water, treated by burn ointment.
● Our Project Safety
3.1. Microbiological safety
In our project, we must keep in mind the potential harm caused by bacteria and be familiar with the pre-treatment plan before we enter the lab and perform experiments. The bacterial strains that will be used in our project are listed below.
Species Risk group The harm to human and environment
Escherichia coli DH5ɑ Ⅰ E.coli BL21 ( DE3 ), Top10, DH5ɑ and MG1655 are commonly used in the lab and have little harm to human and environment.
Escherichia coli Top10
Escherichia coli BL21（DE3）
Escherichia coli MG1655
Gluconacetobacter hansenii ATCC 53582 Ⅰ G. hansenii ATCC 53582 has little harm to human and environment.
Pseudomonas aeruginosa（PAO1） Ⅱ P. aeruginosa, known as opportunistic pathogens, causes human infections in the upper respiratory tract, digestive tract, urinary tract and skin.
Pseudomonas aeruginosa Δ1150-1151
We ensure that our strains will never be leaked out of the lab during the project. For other details, please click on the “Safety Form” section.
3.2. Suicide mechanism
In order to prevent the leakage of transformed genetic objects that might contaminate the environment, we adopt the “suicide” mechanism. Given the property of natural light containing blue light and the biological characteristics of our bacterial strains, blue light illumination will trigger bacterial auto-lysis so that it will not cause any harm to the environment in case of leakage. The mechanism is shown in the figure below. For other details, please click on the “Design” section.
Figure: The genetic circuitry of auto-lysis under the blue light irradiation