Describe all the safety issues of your project.
Synthetic biology will need to be used safely and securely if local people are to solve local problems all around the world. The Safety and Security Committee is challenging teams to apply biological engineering approaches to manage risks associated with synthetic biology. Can you take the next step in incremental progress towards knowledge, understanding, and tools that will make the use of synthetic biology safer and more secure?
To compete for the Safety and Security award, please describe your work on this page and also fill out the description on the judging form.
Please see the 2024 Awards Page for more information.
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.)
Please visit the Safety Policies page to find this year's safety requirements & deadlines, and to learn about safe & responsible research in iGEM.
Does your project include any safety features? Have you made certain decisions about the design to reduce risks? Write about them here! For example:
What safety procedures do you use every day in the lab? Did you perform any unusual experiments, or face any unusual safety issues? Write about them here!
General Safety Prior to beginning our laboratory experimentation, every team member was required to pass an examination regarding general laboratory safety. Our laboratory, which is located in the Lewis Thomas Laboratory within Princeton University adheres to Biosafety Level 1 and Level 2 protocols as specified in the Biosafety Training and Bloodborne Pathogens for Researchers training provided by Princeton University. Biosafety Level 1 refers to a laboratory setting with low risk microbes that pose little to no threat of infection to healthy adults. The majority of our lab work is conducted in the Level 1 lab space which is designated for bacterial work while mammalian cell experimentation is conducted in the Level 2 lab space. We are working with Escherichia coli, stellar competent cells, and ____ mammalian cells. While several potentially hazardous chemicals such as sodium-dodecyl sulfate (SDS) running buffer, ethanol, binding buffer NTI, and lithium dodecyl sulfate (LDS) which can be dangerous if mishandled were used, proper caution was always exercised. One safety precaution we followed is the practice of proper labeling and separation. This ensures that contaminated substances are disposed off properly and that carcinogens remain within a specified lab area. Proper personal protective equipment protocol was also followed when in the vicinity of laboratory equipment and benches. Furthermore, our mentors were easily accessible which provided us with valuable support when addressing unforeseen challenges. These safety precautions allowed us to stay vigilant and effectively respond to possible risks.