Team:Rice/Safety
SAFETY
Lab Info
We are working with E. coli and Shewanella oneidensis, which are non-pathogenic and well characterized organisms, so our lab is Biosafety level 1. It contains all relevant safety equipment, including an eye wash station, fire extinguishers, fume hoods, and biological safety cabinets. Most work is done on a lab bench or in a biological safety cabinet, which protects both worker and samples from contamination.
Figure 1: Lab safety features/equipment. This picture shows some of the safety features of the lab the 2017 Rice iGEM team is working in. The lab is located in Keck Hall Room 201 at Rice University.
Safety Training
All team members working in the wet lab have undergone general lab safety training as well as training specific to biosafety and bloodborne pathogens. Training was administered by Rice EHS, and covered lab access and rules, differences between biosafety levels, biosafety equipment, good microbial technique, disinfection and sterilization, emergency procedures, transport rules, chemical, fire, and electrical safety, use of fume hoods and biological safety cabinets, waste disposal, proper procedure for working with recombinant DNA, and spill and emergency response. Additionally, grad student mentors have advised wet lab workers on best practices when working in lab.
Our Project
We work with two E. coli (MG1655 and BL21 Rosetta), as well as Shewanella oneidensis (MR-1). All are Risk Group 1, do not cause disease in humans, and will only cause eye and skin irritation in rare cases when inhaled or swallowed. Precautions have been taken not to let these organisms out of the lab: no gloves are allowed to touch doorknobs, no bacteria are brought out of the lab, and the lab is a negative pressure zone, which prevents airborne microbes and other materials from escaping. We also use hexavalent chromium, a human carcinogen, in assays to determine the effectiveness of our chromium remediation circuit. Experiments involving chromium are done in a fume hood while wearing the appropriate PPE (full length lab coat, 2 layers of gloves, a mask, and safety glasses).
Figure 2: Personal protective equipment. Pictured here is one of lab members, Catherine, all decked out in her personal protective equipment for working with toxic potassium chromate. Lab coat, pants, closed-toe shoes, safety glasses, face mask, double gloves.
