Team:ICT-Mumbai/Safety
Our host organism
The host organism of our work is the ‘lab pet’ / ‘industrial workhorse’ Escherichia coli. We have used different strains of E. coli for our work – DH5α, BW25113, BL21(DE3) – all of which are categorised under Biosafety Level I (BSL I) and safe to use and handle.
Safe practices in our laboratory
We carried out our work in the DBT-ICT Centre for Energy Biosciences, which houses state-of- the-art facilities for carrying out microbiology and synthetic biology workflows. We handled bacteria in biosafety laminar flow units, and discarded all waste in plastic containers that were autoclaved before disposal. We put on latex gloves and used spatulas to handle ethidium bromide-containing agarose gels. Used gels were put in labelled bags that were handed over to a contractor for disposal by incineration at a municipal facility.
Autoclave facility
Laminar air flow facility
Bio-medical waste disposal bags
Ensuring safety in our Institute
The Institutional Biosafety Committee of our Institute is responsible for ensuring that safe practices are followed in all laboratories in the Institute. The Committee meets twice a year to review and recommend safety measures. Our team primary PI, Prof. Arvind Lali, is the Member Secretary of the Committee.
Safety regulations in our country
The Department of Biotechnology, Government of India has laid down biosafety guidelines that all researchers in the country have to adhere to. The relevant biosafety rules and regulations can be accessed at http://dbtbiosafety.nic.in/
