INTRODUCTION
People who work in bioscience facilities and research environments can be exposed to a variety of chemical, biological or physical hazards as they perform daily tasks. It is therefore critical that the lab safety rules and regulations are strictly adhered to.
We have a Bio Safety Committee in our institution. It consists of various members from our department who ensure that safety guidelines as per Department of Biotechnology (DBT), India norms are followed meticulously. Our team members received a safety training from professors and lab assistants from this committee to manage risks from accidents that may occur while working in the lab. During this training, we were taught about a range of topics right from sterilization techniques to emergency procedures that need to be followed. It was insisted that we were gloves, especially while handling carcinogens; that all the plates be decanted before discarding them. We carried out all lab procedures as taught by our department specialists.
PROJECT SAFETY
Our lab is a level 2 (moderate risk) safety level environment. That is, we have open benches and bio-safety cabinets.
For our project, we are making E.coli Dh5 alpha produce an antimicrobial peptide.
Cloning was carried out as per the DBT rules and regulations.
We will be testing its antimicrobial activity against Bacillus subtilis and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. All these organisms fall under the Risk group 1 organisms as listed in the iGEM website. We worked with them in separate bio safety cabinets only.
