Team:BostonU/Safety

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SAFETY CONSIDERATIONS

The following considerations were taken in ensuring our project was carried out with the utmost regard to safety:

 

Prior to working in the lab, every student in the team received BSL1 and BSL2 lab safety training from the Boston University Research Information Management System (RIMS) and STEM Pathways.

 

Experiments were performed in a BSL1 laboratory on Boston University campus. All researchers wore long pants, closed-toed shoes, lab coats and gloves while working in the laboratory. The bench was cleaned with ethanol following each day.

 

Our plates were parafilmed and placed in 4°C cold room, and cell stocks and cell free extract were stored at -80°C. Culture waste was mixed with 10% bleach and disposed of in appropriately labeled waste containers.

 

All the parts utilized in the lab were cloned in E.coli, which does not cause disease in healthy adult humans.

 

We shipped parts to the registry appropriately using the provided submission kit, in a box clearly labeled as DNA that is non-hazardous, non-regulated, non-infectious, and for research purposes only.

 

Our use of a cell-free transcription-translation system as the platform for our devices adds a unique level of safety to our project. It functions as an extraordinarily non-pathogenic chassis as there are no living organisms within the system. We bypass the dilemma of editing living biological devices, which tends to be a point of tension when interfacing synthetic biology and the general public.