Safety

In our laboratory work, UM-Macau not only strives for meticulous project design and rigorous experimental processes, but also places great emphasis on safety management and personnel protection. The Safety Form helps us conduct experiments in an organized and efficient manner, providing us with a more systematic understanding of the samples and equipment involved. Under the guidance of the University’s professional staff, our team gained in-depth knowledge of the laboratory environment and chemical reagents and participated in skill assessments, which laid a solid foundation for our successful experiments. On this page, we will discuss in detail the work we have done in the laboratory.

This year, our team is using a Level II biosafety laboratory facility. The laboratory is equipped with open work benches, biosafety cabinets, chemical fume hoods, and support equipment such as a first aid kit and shower facilities. All members involved in the laboratory work have thoroughly reviewed the training materials provided by the Academy Athena Chao prior to attending safety training sessions. During the laboratory tour, the members attentively listened to biosafety technicians from the Faculty of Health Sciences and successfully passed the university laboratory safety examination. In terms of adhering to our laboratory code of conduct, we have implemented the following guidelines:

1. Ensuring Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) usage: Long hair must be tied, clothing must be fully covered, and contact lenses are prohibited.

2. 2. Prohibiting consumption of food or beverages within the laboratory premises, as well as working alone in isolation.

3. Avoid contact between gloved hands and exposed areas such as the face and hair; gloves should not be used when operating door handles.

4. Proper utilization of laboratory equipment, including fume hoods. Ventilation cabinet doors must be opened at appropriate heights with items placed neatly without any accumulation of debris.

5. Regularly conducting safety checks using a duty form specifically designed to monitor lab safety conditions.

6. Complying with Macau Fire regulations by implementing fire safety control measures: avoiding use of deformed fire extinguishers and ensuring unobstructed access to fire extinguishers and emergency equipment; regular inspections conducted by local fire department personnel ensure compliance with these regulations.

7. Providing wet lab members with a comprehensive booklet covering various aspects including physical safety, fire safety, electrical safety, chemical safety, gas safety, and biosafety radiation protection measures; although therapeutic animal experiments are not conducted within our program scope.

I Chemical Reagents

In the course of the experiment, we used chemical reagents that may have safety risks. Under the guidance of technical personnel, we strictly ensure the normative use of these chemical reagents. We strictly ensure that chemical reagents are added under the fume hood and always check the storage location of chemical reagents. The Dangerous Goods Regulatory System issued by the Macau Government can be found at this URL:

II Biosafety

In the safety control module of our project, we use the logical structure of the interaction between the calcium channel generating circuit and the hNOS2 generating circuit to realize the mutual adaptation of the kill module and the environment. hNOS2 causes an increase in the concentration of NO, which is harmful if the concentration is too high. However, hNOS2 will pass directly into cancer cells through exosomes and will not cause harm to normal cells. The programmed abortion effect process we designed is activated when it senses that calcium ion flow into cells and the production of NO molecules may cause stress to the organisms we use and the surrounding environment to ensure the safety of the parts used by the target human body.

However, we will go straight to exosomes as the end product and forgo plans to use engineered cells that enter our bodies for therapy. In addition, we will add iRGD signals to the exosomes of the second engineering cycle to enhance the targeting of cancer cells while not affecting normal cells in our body. We also plan to add some special chemical probes to exosomes in a later engineering cycle for exosome detection and tissue targeting.

Our exosomes are synthesized in vitro, and the production of exosomes from the HEK293T cell will be strictly controlled under laboratory conditions (treated by freezing, etc., during periods when exosome production is not required). This will ensure control of the environment from harm.

In our region, the Health Bureau of the Macau SAR Government issues corresponding laws and regulations on laboratory biosafety guidelines to improve the safe operation of its own laboratories(Health Bureau of the Macau SAR Government, 2009).

In our institution, the University of Macau, all laboratory personnel are required to have good safety training before entering the laboratory and are fully aware of laboratory safety protection, personal safety protection equipment, and emergency response. They are expected to understand the Global Harmonized System (GHS) and regulations set forth by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). Laboratory personnel use appropriate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), such as lab coats and gloves, to reduce accidents and injuries in the workplace. When handling waste generated during experiments, they strictly sort waste into appropriate waste bins (including sharp waste bins, needles, and syringes that should be disposed of in sharp waste bins, and broken glass should be disposed of in broken glass bins), and fill out the waste disposal form posted on the wall of the room after the waste has been disposed. According to standard practice, laboratory personnel are always required to read Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) prior to experimentation, and at our university we can use a digital platform for this function ( ).