"Our experiment's purpose is to develop an amino acid hair conditioner by cultivating bacteria. However, safety concerns have emerged throughout this process, including laboratory safety, preventing leaks during the cultivation of bacteria, and avoiding any unforeseen impacts on the environment.
1. Laboratory Safety
1. Safety in the Selection of Recipient Bacteria
Before the experiment begins, our instructor introduces us to different recipient bacteria by explaining their structures and functions. This helps us determine which recipient bacteria we will use. If there are any doubts among students, the instructor provides explanations for the selection. Once we have a clear understanding of these recipient bacteria, the instructor provides guidance on safety precautions during the experiment. We are informed that the bacteria we use have been synthesized by Ascent Life Sciences, a company affiliated with IGSC, ensuring their safety. During the experiment, we wear gloves and masks, operate within a biosafety cabinet to maintain aseptic conditions, preventing contamination, and ensuring that no unplanned bacterial growth occurs. This not only protects the bacteria and the environment but also prevents us from being infected.
2. Safety Regulations and Guidelines
Before entering the laboratory, we receive a handbook containing safety rules, and reminder cards are posted within the laboratory to ensure compliance with safety regulations.
Fig.1 Laboratory safety inspection system
3. Laboratory Equipment Safety
Before using any equipment, we thoroughly understand its operating procedures, follow established protocols, and take necessary protective measures. For precision or expensive equipment, we create operation guidelines. After use, equipment is promptly cleaned, usage is documented, and maintenance is performed. If equipment malfunctions, we immediately cease its use and report it for repair. Informative cartoons are displayed near equipment to provide relevant information.
Fig.2. Caution
4. Laboratory Operation Safety
The laboratory is equipped with instructive posters guiding us through operations. Laboratory instructors supervise and guide us during experiments, and all equipment and materials used by our team strictly adhere to local safety policies.
5. Laboratory Risk Management and Guidance
On the first day of the project, the instructor uses presentations to introduce common laboratory symbols, such as biohazard and electrical hazard (see Fig. 3), and familiarizes us with their meanings to prevent potential dangers. The instructor also organizes us into groups before entering the laboratory, facilitating better management and preventing any unauthorized handling. Although the chemicals and equipment on the laboratory bench are safe, group cooperation enhances efficiency and enables us to acquire more knowledge during experiments. Usage instructions (as shown in Fig. 2) are affixed to laboratory equipment, serving as reminders for our actions. Additionally, there is a laboratory safety inspection system, as depicted in Fig. 1, which means that laboratory equipment undergoes regular inspections and our behavior in the laboratory is regulated.
Fig.3.Biological Harvard sign and electrical hazard
6. Safety Training
Before entering the laboratory, safety management instructors and laboratory personnel provide us with relevant guidelines and conduct safety training. To ensure comprehensive training, the instructor creates engaging and informative training videos that include specific content to enhance our understanding.
2. Safety Design "Preventing Gene Leakage and Monitoring"
2.1 Personnel Safety Training
Before sending the product for factory processing, we consider the possibility that factory personnel may not be sufficiently cautious in their operations. Therefore, we provide safety training, which is a crucial component of safety management. The training includes local safety production policies, laws, regulations, and standards; safety production regulations and responsibilities; knowledge of safety management, safety technology, occupational health, etc. We conduct training for factory workers through lectures and by distributing training manuals.
2.2 Safe Use
Before addressing how to prevent gene leakage, we faced the question of how to safely use our product. Initially, we considered directly applying Escherichia coli to hair. However, safety concerns quickly emerged, including gene leakage, potential infections, and the uncertainty of their impact on the environment. Consequently, we abandoned this approach. Later, we considered offering the product to households for DIY hair care. However, within households, there is a lack of equipment for culturing the bacteria. Despite our ability to provide a large amount of cultured bacteria to consumers, this solution still did not resolve the usage issue and posed the risk of leakage during production, use, and transportation.
Both of these methods involve human handling, introducing uncertainty. Therefore, we came up with a final solution: factory processing. We ferment and culture the bacteria in a factory, and after fermentation, we use ultrasonic treatment to break the bacteria and release the relevant substances. We then purify this substance in the factory to create a hair conditioner product. This approach addresses the issue of gene leakage at its source during the ultrasonic treatment, as we provide the required substances directly to consumers, rather than the bacteria themselves. This is a safer application of synthetic biology in a real-world setting.
After fermentation, sterilization and sealing of fermentation vessels prevent leaks. To ensure that gene leakage does not occur unexpectedly after fermentation, we decided to implement strict sterilization and seal the fermentation vessels. Various methods such as chemical sterilization, radiation sterilization, dry heat sterilization, and wet heat sterilization, as well as filtration for disinfection, are utilized based on different needs. For instance, wet heat sterilization is commonly used for sterilizing growth media, while air is filtered for disinfection.
Finally, we also added the use of bacterial lysates, which allows for rapid and complete rupture of the bacteria to release proteins. These lysates contain potent proteinase inhibitors, ensuring the immediate death of bacteria when introduced into the environment.
2.3 Selecting Safe Host Microorganisms
We chose Escherichia coli 1917 as our host microorganism. Escherichia coli Nissle 1917, abbreviated as EcN, is the only non-pathogenic strain of Escherichia coli and is considered a probiotic. This guarantees the safety of our product for human use. Additionally, we use genes that are safe for both humans and plants in our experiments, along with safer genetic engineering methods, to ensure that our genes and products do not pose any harm to humans.
2.4 Public Acceptance and Safety
During our research, we prepared surveys to assess the public's acceptance of genetically modified technology products. Most people are accepting of genetically modified products, but there is a small segment of the population that does not accept them at all, and some hold reservations about the safety of genetically modified products. In the final section of the survey, we provide information on the technical principles and safety issues of genetically modified products to help the public gain a deeper understanding of this technology."
