Difference between revisions of "Team:Michigan/Safety"

(Prototype team page)
 
Line 1: Line 1:
 
{{Michigan}}
 
{{Michigan}}
 
<html>
 
<html>
 +
<head>
 +
<meta charset="UTF-8">
 +
<title>Team Michigan: Safety</title>
 +
<link href="css/msbt.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css">
 +
<link href="css/bootstrap.min.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css">
 +
<link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Bungee+Hairline|Oxygen|Sumana" rel="stylesheet">
 +
<link href="https://fonts.googleapis.com/css?family=Open+Sans:700" rel="stylesheet">
 +
<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/3.2.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
 +
<script src="js/bootstrap.min.js"></script>
 +
<script src="js/msbt.js"></script>
 +
</head>
  
 +
<body onLoad="loadBody();">
 +
<div class="container-float page2">
 +
<div class="container" id="pageContainer">
  
−
<div class="column full_size">
+
<div class="col-md-12 content">
  
−
<h1> Safety </h1>
+
<h2>Safety</h2>
−
<p>Please visit <a href="https://2017.igem.org/Safety">the main Safety page</a> to find this year's safety requirements & deadlines, and to learn about safe & responsible research in iGEM.</p>
+
  
−
<p>On this page of your wiki, you should write about how you are addressing any safety issues in your project. The wiki is a place where you can <strong>go beyond the questions on the safety forms</strong>, and write about whatever safety topics are most interesting in your project. (You do not need to copy your safety forms onto this wiki page.)</p>
+
<!--Here would be a good place to put the picture of Alex in PPE-->
 +
 
 +
<p>With safe laboratory practices in mind, we designed Thermolyze as a bacterial kill switch that can help researchers prevent the ‘escape’ of their organisms.<br><br>
 +
All team members underwent the University of Michigan’s Department of Occupational Safety and Environmental Health safety training for basic wet lab work as well as specific training for safe autoclave usage, and reviewed our lab space and practices. They concluded that our research was conducted in a way that minimized risk.<br><br>
 +
Our project was also reviewed and approved by the University of Michigan’s Institutional Biosafety Committee consisting of research faculty.<br><br>
 +
We used E. coli as our chassis organism because it is widely used in synthetic biology and easy to work with. It is a <a target="_blank" href="https://2017.igem.org/Safety/Risk_Groups">Risk 1</a> type organism, which means it poses little to no threat to human safety. Ampicillin resistance was included as a selection factor during our experiments. We prevented the spread of this resistance with careful containment and sanitation.<br><br>
 +
Thermolyze is intended as a temperature-based kill switch. The parts may serve as a secondary safety measure in synthetic biology lab work. We cannot think of any practical applications Thermolyze outside of a controlled lab setting, and it should not be used to control synthetic organisms in the environment.<br>
 +
T4 holin, the main lytic component of Thermolyze, specifically targets bacterial cell membranes <a target="_blank" href="http://jb.asm.org/content/187/19/6631">(Tran et al., 2005).</a> The concentrations produced in this project poses little danger to eukaryotes. It still should be treated as a toxic biochemical, but it is less dangerous than a concentrated acid.<br><br>
 +
See more of of our safety concerns and thought process in our <a target="_blank" href="https://2017.igem.org/Team:Michigan/HP/Silver">Silver Human Practices</a> page.</p>
  
 
</div>
 
</div>
  
−
 
+
<ul class="nav nav-tabs bottom" id="nav">
−
<div class="column full_size">
+
<li onClick="go('')"><a class="subtitle">thermolyze</a></li>
−
<h5>Safe Project Design</h5>
+
<li onClick="go('/Description')"><a class="subtitle">project</a></li>
−
 
+
<li onClick="go('/Team')"><a class="subtitle">the team</a></li>
−
<p>Does your project include any safety features? Have you made certain decisions about the design to reduce risks? Write about them here! For example:</p>
+
<li onClick="go('/Human_Practices')"><a class="subtitle">human practices</a></li>
−
 
+
<li onClick="go('/Parts')"><a class="subtitle">parts</a></li>
−
<ul>
+
<li onClick="go('/Model')"><a class="subtitle">modelling</a></li>
−
<li>Choosing a non-pathogenic chassis</li>
+
<li onClick="go('/Safety')"><a class="subtitle">safety</a></li>
−
<li>Choosing parts that will not harm humans / animals / plants</li>
+
<li onClick="go('/Collaborations')"><a class="subtitle">collaborations</a></li>
−
<li>Substituting safer materials for dangerous materials in a proof-of-concept experiment</li>
+
<li onClick="go('/Attributions')"><a class="subtitle">attributions</a></li>
−
<li>Including an "induced lethality" or "kill-switch" device</li>
+
<!--<li onClick="window.open('https://2017.igem.org')"><a class="subtitle">igem</a></li>-->
 
</ul>
 
</ul>
  
−
</div>
+
</div> <!--End container-->
−
 
+
</div> <!--End container-float-->
−
<div class="column half_size">
+
−
<h5>Safe Lab Work</h5>
+
−
 
+
−
<p>What safety procedures do you use every day in the lab? Did you perform any unusual experiments, or face any unusual safety issues? Write about them here!</p>
+
−
 
+
−
</div>
+
−
 
+
−
<div class="column half_size">
+
−
<h5>Safe Shipment</h5>
+
−
 
+
−
<p>Did you face any safety problems in sending your DNA parts to the Registry? How did you solve those problems?</p>
+
−
</div>
+
−
 
+
  
 +
</body>
 
</html>
 
</html>

Revision as of 12:09, 1 November 2017

Team Michigan: Safety

Safety

With safe laboratory practices in mind, we designed Thermolyze as a bacterial kill switch that can help researchers prevent the ‘escape’ of their organisms.

All team members underwent the University of Michigan’s Department of Occupational Safety and Environmental Health safety training for basic wet lab work as well as specific training for safe autoclave usage, and reviewed our lab space and practices. They concluded that our research was conducted in a way that minimized risk.

Our project was also reviewed and approved by the University of Michigan’s Institutional Biosafety Committee consisting of research faculty.

We used E. coli as our chassis organism because it is widely used in synthetic biology and easy to work with. It is a Risk 1 type organism, which means it poses little to no threat to human safety. Ampicillin resistance was included as a selection factor during our experiments. We prevented the spread of this resistance with careful containment and sanitation.

Thermolyze is intended as a temperature-based kill switch. The parts may serve as a secondary safety measure in synthetic biology lab work. We cannot think of any practical applications Thermolyze outside of a controlled lab setting, and it should not be used to control synthetic organisms in the environment.
T4 holin, the main lytic component of Thermolyze, specifically targets bacterial cell membranes (Tran et al., 2005). The concentrations produced in this project poses little danger to eukaryotes. It still should be treated as a toxic biochemical, but it is less dangerous than a concentrated acid.

See more of of our safety concerns and thought process in our Silver Human Practices page.