iGEM always encourages us to be responsible for the world. During iGEM, while pioneering innovative synthetic biology solutions, we take on the responsibility for biosafety. To ensure that our projects do not pose any harm to the world, we have implemented a series of effective safety measures which are elaborated in detail below.

We conduct our experiments in Safety level 2 laboratory equipped with biosafety cabinets, ultra-clean benches, chemical fume hoods, open benches, and more(Figure 1). The laboratory is qualified for working with Risk Group 2 organisms. The restroom is located in a separate room from the laboratory to ensure the safety of the experimenters. The laboratory furnished with fire extinguishers, fire hydrants, and eyewashes to minimize damage in the event of accidents(Figure 2).

The safety officer in our lab is Yueru Shi. She provided us with lab safety training before we commenced work in the laboratory. She is also responsible for operating special equipment and managing hazardous materials(Figure 3).

All members of our wet lab receive laboratory safety training before conducting experiments. The experimenters are basically equipped with lab coats and gloves and are divided into groups of two to avert accidents. To ensure the safety and accuracy of the daily experiments, all experiments are recorded in a timely manner(Notebook).

We are required to abide by strict rules and regulations. Physical access control is established in the laboratory to prohibit the entry of unrelated persons. All our agents have accurate access control to prevent hazardous materials from being taken out of the lab and causing a social hazard. All of our instruments have usage log sheets to ensure proper operation. All our laboratories are equipped with monitoring systems to monitor abnormal behavior of experimenters(Figure 4).

In general, iGEM teams should not release or deploy any engineered organisms, or the products of engineered organisms, outside the lab. All our experiments are conducted within the laboratory. Even if our ultimate goal is to make a simple test kit, we will remain at the lab stage during the IGEM. None of the organisms, parts, and cell-free systems we use are released outside the laboratory.

We filled out the initial and final Safety form on time to ensure that we have passed the iGEM safety committee and our project does not threaten World Security.

The ultimate goal of our project is to warn myocardial infarction patients with a higher cancer risk by detecting miRNA in the blood. However, the iGEM competition prohibits the use of all human samples, so we decided to use synthetic miRNAs instead of blood samples to test our LIRA.

We identified miR-210-3p and miR-142-3p as biomarkers to detect. Since they target human genes, miR-210-3p and miR-142-3p needed to be checked in. To ensure our experiment would cause no harm, we submitted check in form for miR-210-3p and miR-142-3p.

Furthermore, the organism and bacteria we used are all on the White list. The renal cancer cell line 786-o is ordered from traditional suppliers and has been tested and certified to be free of known pathogens. The E coil DH5-alpha, E coil BL21 DE3 and E coil Match1-t1 are also on the White list.

Waste is classified into household waste and medical waste(Figure 5). The medical waste is regularly sent to specialized facilities for disposal so that waste chemicals, bacteria, and other substances can be safely disposed of without harming the environment or the experimenter.