At IISER Mohali, we are committed to following biosafety protocols from the bottom-up. The institute’s Bio-safety Committee oversees the provisioning of labs with adequate safety facilities. Dr. Ram Yadav is the member secretary of the Bio-safety committee at IISER Mohali, whose approval has been sought at each stage of our project. Few of the lab safety practices adopted at IISER Mohali based on rules implemented by the committee include:
• Safe handling of chemicals, glasswares :
Usage of fume hoods to minimize the inhalation of chemicals that generate harmful vapors.
Gloves, lab coats, safety glasses, and shoes are compulsory to wear while handling any chemical or doing any experiment.
• Biosafety
Most of the biological agents used in the Department of Biological Sciences are non- pathogenic. No BSL3 or BSL4 labs are currently present in the institute – accordingly, only risk level 1 and 2 organisms are handled, the latter with extra safety precautions such as bio-safety cabinets.
Proper clothing norms are adopted while working and the access to certain working places like the animal housing (read below) are only allowed to specific members and entry for anyone else is prohibited. Such working places are kept properly insulated to avoid leakage of any potentially harmful substances including biological agents like viruses!
There is a Small Animal Facility for Experimentation (SAFE) at IISER Mohali. Established in 2015, small laboratory animals are bred for research and education. The animals bred therein are used for experiments strictly as per the protocols approved by the Institutional Animal Ethics Committee (IAEC).
• Laser labs
Labs working with lasers take special precautions like using IR blockers, safety glasses as mandatory while doing experiments. Also, the rooms with lasers are kept dust free to avoid contamination with dust, etc. Lasers need high voltage, hence are properly grounded and the personnel working with lasers always wear shoes while operating the lasers.
• Waste disposal at IISER Mohali
To mitigate the environmental burden caused by ongoing work in the labs, the waste is segregated depending upon the nature of waste before disposal. Waste from Biology laboratories are collected in special yellow bags, autoclaved and only then discarded. Any harmful compound containing waste is collected separately in black bags and processed as per the requirements. The plastic or glass wares of the waste are collected by the appropriate companies and then treated for further usage. Various chemicals and media from all labs are neutralized (for example, via bleach treatment) before disposal.The disposal of animal waste from the Small Animal Facility for Experimentation (SAFE) is done as per the guidelines provided by Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB).
• Pertaining to the project
The principle organism (DH5 alpha strain of E. coli) and all parts being used come under a risk level 1 classification, which are white-listed by default. DH5 alpha being a dependent micro-organism (for synthesis), will fail to thrive in an external environment, part of the containment strategy. Further containment is ensured through the use of a 0.2micron filter paper which is permeable to atmospheric gases, but not the bacteria. The co-cultures to be used will fall either under a risk level 1 or 2 classification. Any remaining causes of concern can be incinerated, along with device (the method of disposal)!
We realize that the implications of our work go beyond safety, namely ethical, legal, and social issues. For the same, the institute’s Bio-ethics Committee, Institutional Animal Ethics Committee (IAEC), and Institutional Animal Care and Usage Committee (IACUC) have been constituted. They include not only members from IISER Mohali, but also those from other institutes like IMTECH, PGI, NABI, etc., that are well versed in human practices.
No animals (or their parts) have been used/harmed during the construction of our device. Every step of the project has satisfied requirements from within the institute as well as legal requirements from the government. Having been designed by humans for humans, much thought has gone into gECO’s acceptability in society.
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