Team:TUST China/Safety

Team:TUST China 2017

Safety

Overview

  • This summer, TUST_China is trying to create a better biomaterial ( bacterial cellulose ) to use for medical purpose（wound accessories），under the framework of synthetic biology.Therefore, the safety of our project is vital and it's our duty to explain clearly about any potential problems concerning safety.This requires us to pay more attention of safety issues.

In the Lab

  • First of all,every team members received safety training before being permitted to start working in the lab（The appropriate personal protective equipment was used which included lab coats gloves and where necessary safety spectacles）. In addition to that we never performed any dangerous experiments in daily bench work or faced any unusual safety issues.

    The bench work follows some basic regulations below:

    1. Duplicating a key to the laboratory without permission was strictly prohibited.
    2. All involved participants needed to understand the experiment completely before commencing work.
    3. All experimenters had to wear rubber gloves.
    4. Any steps involving potential release of living microorganisms were performed in a bio-safety cabinet.
    5. Appliances such as Bunsen burners, electric heaters and microwave ovens would not be left unattended when they are on.
    6. All liquid and solid waste potentially containing living organism would be sterilized.
    7. The entire lab was sterilized under UV-light every week.
    8. The last person leaving the lab should always make sure to shut down water, electricity, gas, and the air conditioner and to lock doors and windows before leaving.

Public and Environment

  • G.xylinus：

    The Gluconacetobacter strains used are not thought to pose any risks to the safety and health of the general public. Additionally, the bacterial hosts are laboratory strains which are likely to be uncompetitive compared to wild bacteria in the outside environment.

  • E. coli：

    For the acid and alkali producing genes, we have built suicide gene to avoid potential harm to the environment. The strains are restricted to the lab so that the cells will only produce bacterial cellulose inside the lab.They would not be able to compete outside the lab.

Safety of the Cellulose:

  • The common processing method of cellulose in chemical is soaking in 0.1mol/L NaOH for 3 days and then soaking in water for another 3 days.

    We asked the Shandong Nameide Biotechnology Co., Ltd. to conduct a series of experiments and quality control to our lab-produced bacterial cellulose to make sure it is safe and bacteria-free to the customers.

Safe Shipment

  • The DNA parts were safely contained within PCR tubes as the "Parts Registry" requires.As mentioned above, the DNA parts are absolutely safe

Video of Bio-safety