Lab safety:

We share a laboratory with a group of graduate students in Shandong University. This lab belongs to the level 1 biosafety according to the WHO Laboratory Biosafety Manual:no pathogenic organisms are involved in our program; nothing potentially harmful to researchers is present given that we have taken general precautionary measures to dispose live E. coli, which are tightly controlled within the lab.

Our lab is also well equipped with fire hydrant, fire extinguishers and fire blankets to make sure the fire could be extinguished within a short period of time. Our safety instructor has taught everyone how to use these extinguishing equipment. We have also studied the using method of alcohol lamp and other essential safety procedures. Laboratory safety rules and regulations are hung on the wall, along with the storage and usage of hazardous reagents. All these aforementioned measures contribute to the safety of investigators in our laboratory.

Researcher safety:

We try our best to avoid the use of hazardous chemicals and solutions in the experiments. We don't use Ethidium Bromide for nucleic acid stain in gel electrophoresis, instead, we use SYBR GREEN I to stain DNA. All team members were trained well by instructor Dr. Ren for safety in all aspects before we started our project, including safety rules, safety facility and how to deal with the emergency. For example, we learned how to use the eyewash and emergency shower. Besides, we have some capable advisors who work in the same lab with us, to guide us as well. They can timely correct us whenever we make any improper operation. And we have prepared 70% alcohol, iodine and cotton swab for in case.

We always follow safety rules set by our lab instructor while we are working with Nissle 1917, or any items that are related to it. For example, we wear gloves and lab coats while we were doing experiments, wash hands with soap after finishing experiments, perform experiments under the instructor’s supervision in the first period of the project. We never eat or drink in the lab, and we learned how to dispose bacterial liquid waste safely, how to dispose used glass tubes, eppendorf tubes and bacterial waste plates. We disinfect the lab benches with ethanol before and after experiments, etc.

Environment safety:

Nissel 1917 that is used in the experiment has very limited ability of survival outside the lab. Nevertheless, we still use “84” disinfectant or autoclaving to dispose bacteria waste. Therefore, they are highly unlikely to survive or disseminate, and no specific environmental risk is associated with the E. coli Besides that, we also have the trash disposal regulations, and we are required to sort waste into the correct bins. Some special workers come to take away these trash for disposal every Wednesday and Friday.

Real product safety:

If our project were fully developed and made into yogurt, the potential risk involved is to release bacteria into the environment by cleaning the container. This problem will be addressed by introducing a biosafety instruction although the bacteria are hardly to live in the environment. This would ensure our real product is very safe.

Local safety:

Our lab belongs to Shandong University. There is a Laboratory safety management network of Shandong University (http://202.194.14.199:81/sdusafenet/default.site), we can find all the Biosafety informations and rules and regulations on it. There is still a department of assets and laboratory management in Shandong University which is repossible for the supervision and regulation (http://sysg.sdu.edu.cn/list.aspx?DepID=8). In China, we also have the Chinese center for disease control and prevention (http://www.chinacdc.cn/jkzt/swaq/jdjc/) and China Biosafety information web (http://www.biosafety.com.cn/), both of which guide and make sure our security