Safety

Please visit the main Safety page to find this year's safety requirements & deadlines, and to learn about safe & responsible research in iGEM.

On this page of your wiki, you should write about how you are addressing any safety issues in your project. The wiki is a place where you can go beyond the questions on the safety forms, and write about whatever safety topics are most interesting in your project. (You do not need to copy your safety forms onto this wiki page.)

Safe Project Design

Does your project include any safety features? Have you made certain decisions about the design to reduce risks? Write about them here! For example:

• Choosing a non-pathogenic chassis
• Choosing parts that will not harm humans / animals / plants
• Substituting safer materials for dangerous materials in a proof-of-concept experiment
• Including an "induced lethality" or "kill-switch" device

General Lab Rules and Guidelines

1. Always close and lock the lab door if no one is inside.
2. If you notice that a general lab supply is running low, write the item description, catalog number, company, and quantity desired along with your name and the date on the white board. Try to write items up far enough in advance to ensure that we can restock our supplies before running out.
3. Always wear gloves and spray your gloves with ethanol before opening incubators.
4. Please notify the lab manager of any problems asap.
5. Always close the sash of the chemical hood when you are not working inside it (even if you step away briefly).
6. Never wear gloves outside of the lab (please remove your gloves before going into the computer room or the offices).
7. Please turn the light off in the cold room when you exit.
8. Please wipe down the balances when you are done using them and return all chemicals to back shelves.
9. Always close and latch completely freezer doors (both –80℃ and –20℃) when not in use, and make sure the deli fridge is closed as well.
10. Turn off all orbital shakers and mixers when not in use.
11. Make sure samples are capped tightly and counterbalanced appropriately when centrifuging. Also, be sure the screw the top on the microcentrifuge during use.
12. If you borrow something from someone else’s bench, please return it immediately after you finish using it.
13. If you break something, please report it to the person whose lab duty it is.
14. If you don’t understand how to do something… ASK!
15. If you empty a Pasteur pipette container, please restock the hood with a new one for the next hood user.
16. Please follow proper safety procedures and sterile techniques (described in sterile techniques document).