General Safety
Our lab at ATLATL is classified as Biosafety Level 1, which means the microbes here are not to known consistently cause disease in healthy adults and possess minimal potential hazard to laboratorians and the environment. The laboratory has complete medical waste treatment system and ultraviolet disinfection system. It can be guaranteed that it will not cause any harm to the laboratorians and the environment. Our lab has many rules and procedures used to regulate laboratory operations. For example, we prohibit food, drinks, shorts and open-toed slippers. In addition, we must wear masks, lab coats, and rubber gloves when we conduct experiments every day. The laboratory equipment we use (beakers, conical flasks, pipettes, test tubes) are sterilized by high temperature every day. Laboratory equipment that has been exposed to strains will be placed in a dedicated medical waste bucket for centralized disposal. In summary, our laboratory is harmless to both the lab’s staff and the environment.
Project-Specific Safety
Although our experimental design focused on oral vaccines for rotavirus, we did not use actual viruses. Instead, we used Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis as carriers, and verified whether they can carry rotavirus antigen proteins into the human body through experimental procedures such as strain culture and DNA replication. Because both Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis are common safe laboratory strains, this project is very safe and harmless.
References
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(n.d.). Retrieved from https://plasmid.med.harvard.edu/PLASMID/GetVectorDetail.do?vectorid=319
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CDC LC Quick Learn: Recognize the four Biosafety Levels. (n.d.). Retrieved from