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From 2013.igem.org

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Contents 1 iGEM Safety Questions 1.1 1. Would any of your project ideas raise safety issues in terms of: 1.2 2. Do any of the new BioBrick parts (or devices) that you made this year raise safety issues? 1.3 3. Is there a local biosafety group, committee, or review board at your institution? 1.4 4. Do you have any other ideas how to deal with safety issues that could be useful for future iGEM competitions? How could parts, devices and systems be made even safer through biosafety engineering?

iGEM Safety Questions

1. Would any of your project ideas raise safety issues in terms of:

• Researcher Safety

We are working in category 2 labs adhering to the associated procedures minimising risk to ourselves when working with our bacterial colonies. There are no major concerns with the E. coli bacteria or biobricks being used in our project.

Making and running agarose gels forms a regular element of our lab work, in order to mimimise the risk to everyone in the lab area we use midori green as our dye. This provides a non carcinogenic option that is les toxic and mutagenic compared to ethidium bromide, however we have also learnt how to handle ethidium bromide safely should we need to use it. This involves wearing all appropriate PPE, undertaking all measuring and diposal work within a fume hood and minimising spillage.

If ever take our bacteria out of the lab, they will be completely sealed from the external environment using a plastic varnish, so we have no outbreak concerns

2. Do any of the new BioBrick parts (or devices) that you made this year raise safety issues?

The BioBrick we are planning to create is a combination of previously characterised BioBricks of which there are no safety issues. If required, we will investigate any safety concerns with all the BioBricks we are planning to use and characterise.

3. Is there a local biosafety group, committee, or review board at your institution?

Yes, we do and we have attended a seminar about release of engineered organisms into the environment. In short, we learned, don't release it. We will continue to consult with them throughout our project to ensure that we can present our colonies to the public.

4. Do you have any other ideas how to deal with safety issues that could be useful for future iGEM competitions? How could parts, devices and systems be made even safer through biosafety engineering?

We are trying to develop a method to kill and preserve bacterial colonies for public presentation. Ideally, no engineered organism should be removed from the lab unless extensively tested. With our preserved colonies we can present our work without any associated risks.