Team:Hong Kong HKU/humanpractice/safety

Q1. Please describe the chassis organism(s) you will be using for this project. If you will be using more than one chassis organism, provide information on each of them:

Answer for Q1.

Q2. Highest Risk Group Listed:

1: Greater than 1

Q3. List and describe all new or modified coding regions you will be using in your project. (If you use parts from the 2013 iGEM Distribution without modifying them, you do not need to list those parts.)

Q4. Do the biological materials used in your lab work pose any of the following risks? Please describe. a. Risks to the safety and health of team members or others working in the lab?

The E. coli strain DH10B and BL21 was used throughout our project. Both are Risk Group 1 laboratory strains of E. coli that have a low, but not nonexistent, virulence. Organisms classified as Risk Group 1 are not known to cause disease in healthy adults. Keeping with registration requirements for Risk Group 1 bacteria, all laboratory work was performed in an environment certified for Biosafety Level 1. Hence, they pose low risk to the safety and health of team members or others working in the lab.

Q4. b. Risks to the safety and health of the general public, if released by design or by accident?

These strains of E. coli are generally not resistant to antibiotics. All bacteria were transformed with bacterial plasmids carrying our desired insert gene and antibiotics resistance to antibiotics commonly used in laboratories for selection (ampicillin, kanamycin, chloramphenicol, etc.), but will not interfere with potential clinical treatment. Neither plasmids nor their insert genes will affect virulence, infectivity, or host range.

c. Risks to the environment, if released by design or by accident?

We have no intention of releasing any bacteria into the human body or the environment at any point in the iGEM competition. Even if it did "escape' from our lab, the bacteria is effectively harmless; as stated above, neither our plasmids nor our insert genes will affect the virulence, infectivity, or host range.

d. Risks to security through malicious misuse by individuals, groups, or countries?

The bacteria is effectively harmless, neither our plasmids nor our insert genes will affect the virulence, infectivity, or the host range.