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Safety is the most important aspect of our project. Students are required to undergo complete laboratory rules and safety training. All experimental procedures must be carried out in the presence of the supervisor or teaching assistant. No experimental reagents or materials can be taken out of the laboratory.

Safety Form


We have seriously completed the Safety form, carefully reflected and reviewed the 32 questions mentioned in the official iGEM safety form. You are welcome to view the detailed safety form about our project submitted here!

Biosafety


Biosafety refers to measures and practices to prevent unintentional release of harmful biological agents, such as pathogens or toxins, from laboratories or other controlled environments.

We conduct experiments strictly in the laboratory environment and dispose of laboratory waste properly. Microorganisms such as Escherichia coli and Agrobacterium involved in the experiment are sterilized by high-pressure steam and then handed over to qualified laboratory waste disposal companies for recycling.

We test whether promoters could respond to cadmium using transient transfection on tobacco leaves. It is an experimental method which could investigate the short-term impact of marker gene expression(here GFP and GUS reporter gene). So it won't alter the genetic material of host plants and decrease the risk of releasing genetically modified plants to the enviroment.

Biosecurity

Our project raises the concern of using hazardous chemicals, for example, Cadmium and nuclear acid dye etc.

The amount of heavy metals (CdCl2) used in the experiment will be strictly controlled within safe limits.

The store and use of CdCl2 were overseen by two instructors and they have been properly disposed of after use to ensure that there is no harm to the students and environment.

Plant quarantine is also an important measure for protecting team members and lab space.

lab safety

- lab rules
- Personal protective equipment, PPE
- Follow Experiment procedures

During the experiment, a syringe will be used to inoculate plants with bacterial solution. Improper use of the syringe may cause harm to team members or colleagues in the laboratory. Team members or colleagues will wear gloves and be supervised by a professional when using syringes to avoid mishandling them. After use, the used syringe needle will be strictly required to be placed in a sharps container.
When running gel electrophoresis, we will add some nucleic acid dyes, which can be harmful to the human body. Therefore, we must wear lab coats and even goggles to prevent these dyes from corroding into our bodies.



In our social practice, companies and organisations have expressed the hope that they can trial plant their products in their fields once our laboratory work has matured. However, there are many biosafety issues that need to be considered for engineered plants that want to be used in real-world environments. Our current work in the lab is done in strict accordance with biosafety practices, and the experimental plants are never taken out of the lab.

We conduct expert consultations on biosafety components

However, we need to carry out long-term conception, and we have carried out the following safety considerations and practices as safety preparations before subsequent testing or actual placement:

1. Before considering how we should subsequently put the cadmium-responsive luminescent plants into application, we first established liaison with expert teachers within the field of synthetic biology and eco-ethics of the UWM, to ensure that we conceive of and carry out the subsequent work under the guidance of the experts

2. For long-term application, we will try to construct sterile lines to ensure that cadmium-responsive luminescent plants will not spread through pollen or seeds at the genetic level.

3. We will follow the advice of the expert teachers and conduct research on relevant laws and regulations for a period of time thereafter. We understand that testing outside the laboratory needs to go through the strict approval of the national biological safety department and the application of experimental process, we need to fully understand the relevant laws and regulations, in strict accordance with the requirements of the laws and regulations, test experimental application, and strictly in accordance with the test requirements, step by step, stage by stage, to the regulatory authorities to report our testing process.

4. we will carry out a comprehensive evaluation of the ecological impact of the programme design, we start from now on.

From now on, we will pay more attention to the whole biological network structure of our luminescent chassis plant - Ben's Tobacco and other tobacco plant groups in outdoor areas, including the interactions and impacts among animals, plants and microorganisms associated with the plant's outdoor environment, and we will also consider researching the impacts of the luminescent plant's root metabolites on soil and water. The next step will also consider investigating the effects of the root metabolites of the luminous plant on the soil and water environment.

After obtaining detailed test data, we will fully communicate with the user enterprises or organisations that have the intention of trial planting, obtain their full informed consent, and under the premise of legal compliance, and within a limited space, we will conduct the next step of experimental testing in limited co-operation with them.