Team:Lethbridge Canada/safety

From 2013hs.igem.org

(Difference between revisions)
(Created page with "<html lang="en"> <head> <style> a.stmp:hover { background: #00ff00; border-radius: 10px; border-width: 10px; } p#stmp { color: #00ff00; font-size: 30px; text-alig...")
 
(46 intermediate revisions not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
-
<html lang="en">
+
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
-
<head>
+
<head>
-
<style>
+
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
-
a.stmp:hover {
+
<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width" />
-
background: #00ff00;
+
<title></title>
-
border-radius: 10px;
+
-
border-width: 10px;
+
-
}
+
-
p#stmp {
+
-
color: #00ff00;
+
-
font-size: 30px;
+
-
text-align: center;
+
-
}
+
-
</style>
+
-
+
-
<title>
+
-
Lethbridge_Canada iGEM
+
-
</title>
+
-
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="https://2013hs.igem.org/Team:Lethbridge_Canada/style?action=raw&ctype=text/css">
+
-
</head>
+
-
+
-
<body>
+
-
<div id="banner">
+
-
<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2013hs/0/06/Lethbridgehs2013banner.png" id="banner">
+
-
</div>
+
-
<div id="nav" align="center">
+
-
<a href="https://2013hs.igem.org/Team:Lethbridge_Canada" class="nav"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2013hs/1/15/Lethbridgehs2013home.png" alt="Home" class="nav"></a>
+
-
<a href="https://2013hs.igem.org/Team:Lethbridge_Canada/project" class="nav"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2013hs/0/08/Lethbridgehs2013project.png" alt="Project" class="nav"></a>
+
-
<a href="https://2013hs.igem.org/Team:Lethbridge_Canada/parts" class="nav"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2013hs/6/63/Lethbridgehs2013parts.png" alt="Parts" class="nav"></a>
+
-
<a href="https://2013hs.igem.org/Team:Lethbridge_Canada/notebook" class="nav"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2013hs/0/01/Lethbridgehs2013notebook.png" alt="Notebook" class="nav"></a>
+
-
<a href="https://2013hs.igem.org/Team:Lethbridge_Canada/safety" class="nav"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2013hs/6/60/Lethbridgehs2013safety.png" alt="Safety" class="nav" id="selected"></a>
+
-
<a href="https://2013hs.igem.org/Team:Lethbridge_Canada/humanpractices" class="nav"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2013hs/2/26/Lethbridgehs2013humanpractices.png" alt="Human Practices" class="nav"></a>
+
-
<a href="https://2013hs.igem.org/Team:Lethbridge_Canada/team" class="nav"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2013hs/e/ea/Lethbridgehs2013team.png" alt="Team" class="nav"></a>
+
-
<a href="https://2013hs.igem.org/Team:Lethbridge_Canada/attributions" class="nav"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2013hs/0/0a/Lethbridgehs2013attributions.png" alt="Attributions" class="nav"></a>
+
-
<a href="https://2013hs.igem.org/Team:Lethbridge_Canada/sponsors" class="nav"><img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2013hs/f/fc/Lethbridgehs2013sponsors.png" alt="Sponsors" class="nav"></a>
+
-
</div>
+
-
+
-
<div id="stmp">
+
-
<p id="stmp">Safety</p>
+
-
<a href="#place1" class="stmp">Importance</a>
+
-
<a href="#place2" class="stmp">How?</a>
+
-
</div>
+
-
+
-
<div id="content">
+
-
+
-
<div class="section">
+
-
<a id="place1" class="content">
+
-
<p id="title">
+
-
Importance
+
-
</p>
+
-
</a>
+
-
<p>
+
-
Safety is the state of being "safe" (from French sauf), the condition of being protected against physical, social, spiritual, financial, political, emotional, occupational, psychological, educational or other types or consequences of failure, damage, error, accidents, harm or any other event which could be considered non-desirable. Safety can also be defined to be the control of recognized hazards to achieve an acceptable level of risk. This can take the form of being protected from the event or from exposure to something that causes health or economical losses. It can include protection of people or of possessions.
+
-
</p>
+
-
</div>
+
 +
<script src="http://code.jquery.com/jquery-1.9.1.min.js"></script>
 +
<script src="https://2013hs.igem.org/Team:Lethbridge_Canada/jquery.slides.min?action=raw&ctype=text/javascript"></script>
 +
<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://2013hs.igem.org/Team:Lethbridge_Canada/bootstrap?action=raw&ctype=text/css" />
 +
<link rel="stylesheet" href="https://2013hs.igem.org/Team:Lethbridge_Canada/concept?action=raw&ctype=text/css" type="text/css" media="screen" />
-
<hr>
+
</head>
-
+
<body>
-
<div class="section">
+
<div id="safety">
-
<a id="place2" class="content">
+
<div id="wrapper">
-
<p id="title">
+
<div id="header">
-
History
+
-
</p>
+
<a href="https://2013hs.igem.org/Team:Lethbridge_Canada">
 +
<div id="logo_all">
 +
<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2013hs/3/32/Leth_hs_2013_logo.png" alt="logo" />
 +
</div>
 +
<span id="title_first">Lethbridge</span>
 +
<span id="title_second">iGEM Team</span>
</a>
</a>
-
<p>
+
</div>
-
iGEM developed out of student projects conducted during MIT's Independent Activities Periods in 2003 and 2004.[3][4] Later in 2004, a competition with five teams from various schools was held. In 2005, teams from outside the United States took part for the first time.[5] Since then iGEM has continued to grow, with 130 teams entering in 2010.[6]
+
-
</p>
+
<div id="cont">
-
<p>
+
-
Because of this increasing size, in 2011 the competition was split into three regions: Europe, the Americas, and Asia (though teams from Africa and Australia also entered via "Europe" and "Asia" respectively).[7] Regional jamborees will occur during October; and some subset of teams attending those events will be selected to advance to the World Championship at MIT in November.[8]
+
<div class="cleafix>">
-
</p>
+
<div id="navigation">
-
<p>
+
<li class="navigation_project"><a href="https://2013hs.igem.org/Team:Lethbridge_Canada/project" class="strict">Project</a>
-
In January 2012 the iGEM Foundation was spun out of MIT as an independent non-profit organization located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. The iGEM Foundation supports scientific research and education through operating the iGEM competition.
+
<ul>
-
</p>
+
<li><a href="https://2013hs.igem.org/Team:Lethbridge_Canada/project">Description</a></li>
-
<p>
+
                                                <li><a href="https://2013hs.igem.org/Team:Lethbridge_Canada/project#video_oxy">Visual Modeling</a></li>
-
For the 2012 competition iGEM expanded into having not only the Collegiate division, but also competitions for entrepreneurs and high school students.
+
<li><a href="https://2013hs.igem.org/Team:Lethbridge_Canada/math">Math Model</a></li>
-
</p>
+
<li><a href="https://2013hs.igem.org/Team:Lethbridge_Canada/results">Results</a></li>
 +
<li><a href="https://2013hs.igem.org/Team:Lethbridge_Canada/wikifreeze">Wikifreeze</a></li>
 +
</ul>
 +
</li>
 +
<li class="navigation_parts decrease_opacity"><a href="https://2013hs.igem.org/Team:Lethbridge_Canada/parts" class="strict">Parts</a></li>
 +
<li class="navigation_notebook decrease_opacity"><a href="https://2013hs.igem.org/Team:Lethbridge_Canada/protocols" class="strict">Notebook</a>
 +
<ul>
 +
<li><a href="https://2013hs.igem.org/Team:Lethbridge_Canada/protocols#protocol_header">Protocols</a></li>
 +
<li><a href="https://2013hs.igem.org/Team:Lethbridge_Canada/notebook_march">Notebook: March</a></li>
 +
<li><a href="https://2013hs.igem.org/Team:Lethbridge_Canada/notebook_april">Notebook: April</a></li>
 +
<li><a href="https://2013hs.igem.org/Team:Lethbridge_Canada/notebook_may">Notebook: May</a></li>
 +
<li><a href="https://2013hs.igem.org/Team:Lethbridge_Canada/notebook_june">Notebook: June</a></li>
 +
</ul>
 +
</li>
 +
<li class="navigation_safety decrease_opacity"><a href="https://2013hs.igem.org/Team:Lethbridge_Canada/safety" class="strict">Safety</a></li>
 +
<li class="navigation_outreach decrease_opacity"><a href="https://2013hs.igem.org/Team:Lethbridge_Canada/outreach" class="strict">Outreach</a>
 +
<ul>
 +
<li><a href="https://2013hs.igem.org/Team:Lethbridge_Canada/outreach">Overview</a></li>
 +
<li><a href="https://2013hs.igem.org/Team:Lethbridge_Canada/presentations">Presentations</a></li>
 +
<li><a href="https://2013hs.igem.org/Team:Lethbridge_Canada/interviews">Interviews</a></li>
 +
<li><a href="https://2013hs.igem.org/Team:Lethbridge_Canada/videos">Videos</a></li>
 +
<li><a href="https://2013hs.igem.org/Team:Lethbridge_Canada/surveys">Parent Surveys</a></li>
 +
<li><a href="https://2013hs.igem.org/Team:Lethbridge_Canada/novel_study">Novel Study</a></li>
 +
</ul>
 +
</li>
 +
<li class="navigation_team decrease_opacity"><a href="https://2013hs.igem.org/Team:Lethbridge_Canada/team" class="strict">Team</a>
 +
<ul>
 +
<li><a href="https://2013hs.igem.org/Team:Lethbridge_Canada/team#the_team">The Team</a></li>
 +
<li><a href="https://2013hs.igem.org/Team:Lethbridge_Canada/team#the_advisors">The Advisors</a></li>
 +
</ul>
 +
</li>
 +
<li class="navigation_sponsors decrease_opacity"><a href="https://2013hs.igem.org/Team:Lethbridge_Canada/sponsors" class="strict">Sponsors</a></li>
 +
</ul>
 +
</div>
 +
</div>
 +
 +
 +
<div id="mainContent">
 +
 +
<img class="safety_banner_image" src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2013hs/9/97/Lethbridge_hs_igem_2013_banner_safety.png"><br></br>
 +
 
 +
 
 +
<div id="safety_float_left">
 +
<p><b>1. Would any of your project ideas raise safety issues in terms of researcher safety, public safety or environmental safety?</b></p>
 +
 
 +
<p>The Lethbridge High School iGEM team works in a university laboratory with Containment Level 1. We work with non-pathogenic strains of <i>E. coli</i>, DH5&alpha; and BL21(DE3). </p>
 +
 
 +
<p>There are some hazardous chemicals with which we work in the lab, such as ethidium bromide. Team members always wear appropriate personal protective equipment – gloves, lab coats, protective glasses, pants and closed toed shoes. Our supervisors assist us when we work with organic substances and heavy metals (for example, formaldehyde and silver stain waste). We have a fire extinguisher, emergency shower, an eye-wash station and a first aid kit readily available. We also are always working with one of our University student advisors. All high school students received WHMIS and lab-specific safety training prior to starting our project.
 +
</p>
 +
 
 +
 +
<p>We will be keeping our produced Oxytocin contained from public use. It would be available for research purposes only. Due to the fact that there is little known about the hormone, we want to make it available to researchers. An environmental risk is the possibility of the bacteria containing our parts escape the lab. There is the risk of horizontal gene transfer to other organisms, which may enable them to also produce Oxytocin. Oxytocin has been implicated in multiple cell-pathways so it is difficult to predict what effect it may have on the environment (1).</p>
 +
 
 +
<p class="padding_top_p"><b>2. Do any of the new BioBrick parts (or devices) that you made this year raise safety issues?</b></p>
 +
 
 +
                                                <p>Our part containing the gene for Oxytocin-Neurophysin I does not raise any significant safety issues. If all bacteria, DNA, protein samples and chemicals are handled according to protocol, working with our part is quite safe.</p>
 +
 
 +
<p class="padding_top_p"><b>3. Is there a local biosafety group, committee, or review board at your institution?</b></p>
 +
 
 +
<p>The group at the University of Lethbridge responsible for biosafety is Risk and Safety Services. They are aware of the project and are very excited about the High School iGEM Program. We have complied with the Risk and Safety Services regulation by getting WHMIS and Lab-specific safety training, providing volunteer consent forms and permission forms when travelling for workshops and the Jamboree.</p>
 +
<p>We follow the Laboratory Safety Guidelines outlined by Health Canada: <a href="http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/lab-bio/index-eng.php">Public Health Agency of Canada</a></p>
 +
 
 +
 
 +
 
 +
<p class="padding_top_p"><b>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?</b></p>
 +
 
 +
<p>We think that there should be another means of observing the production and results of the findings produced within a specific iGEM lab from an outside source. An outside source that is very qualified regarding the field of synthetic biology, capable of examining the creation of new parts, the installment of assured safety measures and the handing out of results to the world. We would require the Risk and Safety Services of our institution to bring in this individual and have them work with the Risk and Safety Committee. By having and independent third party examine the work of an iGEM team; we can be certain that our parts are as safe as possible. Assured safety through the use of an outside source not directly relatable to the iGEM team, will assure troubleshooting to the possible problem of misguided information and action that could result in interference outside of the lab.</p>
 +
 
 +
<p class="padding_top_p">
 +
<a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19863843">1. Strunecká et al</a>
 +
</div>
 +
 
 +
 +
<div id="safety_float_right">
 +
<img src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2013hs/6/63/Leth_hs_2013_safety_1.jpg" alt="Lab Safety" />
 +
<img class="shift_up_safety" src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2013hs/1/15/Leth_hs_2013_safety_2.jpg" alt="Lab Safety" />
 +
<img class="shift_up_safety" src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2013hs/a/aa/Leth_hs_2013_safety_3.jpg" alt="Lab Safety" />
 +
<img class="shift_up_safety" src="https://static.igem.org/mediawiki/2013hs/5/5d/Leth_hs_2013_safety_4.jpg" alt="Lab Safety" />
 +
 
 +
</div>
 +
 
 +
 +
</div>
 +
</div>
</div>
</div>
-
+
</div>
-
<hr>
+
</body>
-
+
-
<div class="section">
+
-
<a id="place3" class="content">
+
-
<p id="title">
+
-
BioBricks
+
-
</p>
+
-
</a>
+
-
<p>
+
-
BioBrick standard biological parts are DNA sequences of defined structure and function; they share a common interface and are designed to be composed and incorporated into living cells such as E. coli to construct new biological systems. BioBrick parts represent an effort to introduce the engineering principles of abstraction and standardization into synthetic biology. The trademarked words BioBrick and BioBricks are correctly used as adjectives (not nouns) and refer to a specific "brand" of open source genetic parts as defined via an open technical standards setting process that is led by the BioBricks Foundation.
+
-
</p>
+
-
<p>
+
-
BioBrick parts were introduced by Tom Knight at MIT in 2003.[1][2] Drew Endy,[3] now at Stanford, and Christopher Voigt, at MIT, are also heavily involved in the project. A registry of several thousand public domain BioBrick parts is maintained by Randy Rettberg team at http://partsregistry.org. The annual iGEM competition promotes the BioBrick parts concept by involving undergraduate and graduate students in the design of biological systems.
+
-
</p>
+
-
<p>
+
-
One of the goals of the BioBricks project is to provide a workable approach to nanotechnology employing biological organisms. Another, more long-term goal is to produce a synthetic living organism from standard parts that are completely understood.[4]
+
-
</p>
+
-
<p>
+
-
Each BioBrick part is a DNA sequence held in a circular plasmid; the "payload" of the BioBrick part is flanked by universal and precisely defined upstream and downstream sequences which are technically not considered part of the BioBrick part. These sequences contain six restriction sites for specific restriction enzymes (at least two of which are isocaudomers), which allows for the simple creation of larger BioBrick parts by chaining together smaller ones in any desired order. In the process of chaining parts together, the restriction sites between the two parts are removed, allowing the use of those restriction enzymes without breaking the new, larger BioBrick apart.[5] To facilitate this assembly process, the BioBrick part itself may not contain any of these restriction sites.[1]
+
-
</p>
+
-
<p>
+
-
There are three levels of BioBrick parts: "parts", "devices" and "systems".[3] "Parts" are the building blocks and encode basic biological functions (such as encoding a certain protein, or providing a promoter to let RNA polymerase bind and initiate transcription of downstream sequences); "devices" are collections of parts that implement some human-defined function (such as a riboregulator producing a fluorescent protein whenever the environment contains a certain chemical);[6] "systems" perform high-level tasks (such as oscillating between two colors at a predefined frequency).
+
-
</p>
+
-
<p>
+
-
Example BioBrick systems honored at previous iGEM competitions include:
+
-
</p>
+
-
<p>
+
-
E. coli detector for arsenic that responds with pH change;
+
-
</p>
+
-
<p>
+
-
E. coli producer of various scents such as banana or mint;
+
-
</p>
+
-
<p>
+
-
human cell line engineered to inhibit excessive response to Toll-like receptor activation, so as to avoid sepsis.
+
-
</p>
+
-
<p>
+
-
Two measures for the performance of biological parts have been defined by Drew Endy's team: PoPS or Polymerase per second, the number of times a RNA polymerase passes by a certain DNA point per second; and RiPS or Ribosomal initiations per second, the number of times a ribosome passes a certain point on mRNA each second.[7]
+
-
</p>
+
-
<p>
+
-
The original BioBricks only use two of the compatible restriction enzymes XbaI and SpeI. Recently, Xu et al [8] have expanded this concept and used four of the compatible restriction enzymes AvrII, XbaI, SpeI and NheI. The engineered ePathBrick vectors comprise four compatible restriction enzyme sites allocated on strategic positions so that different regulatory control signals can be reused and manipulation of expression cassette can be streamlined. Specifically, these vectors allow for fine-tuning gene expression by integrating multiple transcriptional activation or repression signals into the operator region. At the same time, ePathBrick vectors support the modular assembly of multi-gene metabolic pathways and combinatorial generation of pathway diversities with three distinct configurations.
+
-
</p>
+
-
</div>
+
-
+
-
<hr>
+
-
+
-
<div class="section">
+
-
<a id="place4" class="content">
+
-
<p id="title">
+
-
DNA
+
-
</p>
+
-
</a>
+
-
<p>
+
-
Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is a molecule that encodes the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms and many viruses. Along with RNA and proteins, DNA is one of the three major macromolecules essential for all known forms of life. Genetic information is encoded as a sequence of nucleotides (guanine, adenine, thymine, and cytosine) recorded using the letters G, A, T, and C. Most DNA molecules are double-stranded helices, consisting of two long polymers of simple units called nucleotides, molecules with backbones made of alternating sugars (deoxyribose) and phosphate groups (related to phosphoric acid), with the nucleobases (G, A, T, C) attached to the sugars. DNA is well-suited for biological information storage, since the DNA backbone is resistant to cleavage and the double-stranded structure provides the molecule with a built-in duplicate of the encoded information.
+
-
</p>
+
-
<p>
+
-
These two strands run in opposite directions to each other and are therefore anti-parallel, one backbone being 3' (three prime) and the other 5' (five prime). This refers to the direction the 3rd and 5th carbon on the sugar molecule is facing. Attached to each sugar is one of four types of molecules called nucleobases (informally, bases). It is the sequence of these four nucleobases along the backbone that encodes information. This information is read using the genetic code, which specifies the sequence of the amino acids within proteins. The code is read by copying stretches of DNA into the related nucleic acid RNA in a process called transcription.
+
-
</p>
+
-
<p>
+
-
Within cells, DNA is organized into long structures called chromosomes. During cell division these chromosomes are duplicated in the process of DNA replication, providing each cell its own complete set of chromosomes. Eukaryotic organisms (animals, plants, fungi, and protists) store most of their DNA inside the cell nucleus and some of their DNA in organelles, such as mitochondria or chloroplasts.[1] In contrast, prokaryotes (bacteria and archaea) store their DNA only in the cytoplasm. Within the chromosomes, chromatin proteins such as histones compact and organize DNA. These compact structures guide the interactions between DNA and other proteins, helping control which parts of the DNA are transcribed.
+
-
</p>
+
-
</div>
+
-
+
-
</div>
+
-
</body>
+
</html>
</html>

Latest revision as of 19:54, 20 July 2013



1. Would any of your project ideas raise safety issues in terms of researcher safety, public safety or environmental safety?

The Lethbridge High School iGEM team works in a university laboratory with Containment Level 1. We work with non-pathogenic strains of E. coli, DH5α and BL21(DE3).

There are some hazardous chemicals with which we work in the lab, such as ethidium bromide. Team members always wear appropriate personal protective equipment – gloves, lab coats, protective glasses, pants and closed toed shoes. Our supervisors assist us when we work with organic substances and heavy metals (for example, formaldehyde and silver stain waste). We have a fire extinguisher, emergency shower, an eye-wash station and a first aid kit readily available. We also are always working with one of our University student advisors. All high school students received WHMIS and lab-specific safety training prior to starting our project.

We will be keeping our produced Oxytocin contained from public use. It would be available for research purposes only. Due to the fact that there is little known about the hormone, we want to make it available to researchers. An environmental risk is the possibility of the bacteria containing our parts escape the lab. There is the risk of horizontal gene transfer to other organisms, which may enable them to also produce Oxytocin. Oxytocin has been implicated in multiple cell-pathways so it is difficult to predict what effect it may have on the environment (1).

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

Our part containing the gene for Oxytocin-Neurophysin I does not raise any significant safety issues. If all bacteria, DNA, protein samples and chemicals are handled according to protocol, working with our part is quite safe.

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

The group at the University of Lethbridge responsible for biosafety is Risk and Safety Services. They are aware of the project and are very excited about the High School iGEM Program. We have complied with the Risk and Safety Services regulation by getting WHMIS and Lab-specific safety training, providing volunteer consent forms and permission forms when travelling for workshops and the Jamboree.

We follow the Laboratory Safety Guidelines outlined by Health Canada: Public Health Agency of Canada

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 think that there should be another means of observing the production and results of the findings produced within a specific iGEM lab from an outside source. An outside source that is very qualified regarding the field of synthetic biology, capable of examining the creation of new parts, the installment of assured safety measures and the handing out of results to the world. We would require the Risk and Safety Services of our institution to bring in this individual and have them work with the Risk and Safety Committee. By having and independent third party examine the work of an iGEM team; we can be certain that our parts are as safe as possible. Assured safety through the use of an outside source not directly relatable to the iGEM team, will assure troubleshooting to the possible problem of misguided information and action that could result in interference outside of the lab.

1. Strunecká et al

Lab Safety Lab Safety Lab Safety Lab Safety