Biosafety procedures in the lab- What for?

As the World Health Organization (WHO) defines it, biosafety is the prevention of unintentional exposure to pathogens and toxins and their accidental release .Therefore, this issue is a matter of extreme importance, while dealing with genetically modified organisms (GMOs). GMOs, as their name indicates are organisms that are not naturally encountered in the environment, and their release to the environment can constitute a safety issue not only to the team members and people that have access to the working space, but it can spread and affect to the institution that hosts the laboratory (in our case University of Copenhagen), becoming a safety problem for the public or for the environment.

Due to the great consequences that might originate from the incorrect manipulation of the GMOs or biological parts, as well as the incorrect use of chemicals or lab equipment it is an obligation for every team member to have enough biosafety knowledge in order to prevent and reduce any potential risk.

This is why; our team followed a lab tour concerning the biosafety in the lab provided by the laboratory technician Lene Daltsen. During this walk our group was informed with the basic rules of the lab as well as with the biosafety regulation at our university. Moreover, we also took part of a workshop concerning Biosafety at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) hold by professor Chris Workman. Before the workshop every team member had to complete a short safety quiz that allowed us to evaluate our knowledge. At the workshop we develop our knowledge in lab safety procedures and we got familiarized with the database of chemicals” Kemibrug” that among other information, contains a safety data sheet (SDS) of the chemicals used normally in the lab.

We believe that the knowledge acquired during these two meetings, as well as the knowledge acquired during our university programmes provided us with a good understanding of the importance and correct use of the biosafety procedures in the lab.