Would any of your project ideas raise safety issues?

Researcher Safety

Would any of your project ideas raise safety issues?

Public Safety

Our project does not pose a threat to public safety, as the two organisms used are nonpathogenic. Moreover, exposure to E.coli and S. cerevisiae is already widespread in the public (Non-pathogenic E.coli is a common resident of the natural gut flora found in humans and S. cerevisiae is routinely used in industry in beer fermentation). However, despite the safety of the organisms, any genetically modified organisms were not allowed to even come in contact with the public, via proper decontamination procedures, and the limiting of only trained personal to the lab.

Environmental safety

Our project does not pose a threat to the environment as well, for all the strains used are already commonly found in nature as stated above. Moreover, the modifications made to the bacteria would not give said organisms an advantage over others of their species (in fact hindering it as importande genes like adenine are knocked out), and as such would not thrive. Still, there are always inherent risks in releasing genetically modified organisms into the wild. Therefore, proper decontamination protocals (bleaching of cells, decontamination of lab bench, use of gloves etc.) were used to ensure that no genetically altered organism would be introduced into the environment.