Safety

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For detailed Safety Form, please go to 🔗Official Site For details.

Overview

Safety is a priority element in our project. Our goal is to design and develop DNA molecular probes that can be weighted and summed to form a cell-free artificial biochemical circuit of neural network structure.Therefore, we will perform LATE-PCR on the designed molecular probes and perform a weighted sum of the multidimensional biomarker input signals to distinguish between bacterial and viral infection by monitoring the fluorescent signal. During the experimental process, there are always certain risks and hazards. Therefore, we need to conduct a risk assessment of all existing and potential risks, and hope to reduce the project risk as much as possible in this way to ensure safety.

Laboratory Safety

Any organism or component used by our team is included in the whitelist and no activity, not on the whitelist is ever performed. The provincial safety level of the team's workspace is Level 1-standard microbiology laboratory. The team works in biosafety cabinets, chemical fume hoods, and other work areas to handle biological materials. In addition to completing safety tests, we received laboratory training on how to safely operate most of the techniques used in basic experiments. During our training, we learned about laboratory rules, differences in biosafety levels, biosafety equipment, good microbiological techniques, disinfection and sterilization, emergency procedures, rules for transporting samples between laboratories or between institutions, physical biosafety, personnel biosafety, chemical firefighting, and electrical safety. For possible safety issues, we manage the risks by writing incident reports, attending safety seminars sponsored by iGEM, or by talking to other experts. In addition to this, we agreed on rules on how to work safely in the laboratory to minimize potential risks to laboratory personnel and the environment. We also learned how to discard different types of waste and how to minimize the risk of contamination.

To avoid safety hazards with laboratory waste, we need to sort and dispose of it.

1. Sorting laboratory waste

   1. According to the nature of waste pollution
   2. According to the form of waste classification.

2. laboratory waste treatment

   1. Bio-waste disposal.

3. Laboratory operation safety

   1. Instrument rooms and laboratory doors and windows should be locked on time. Valuable instruments should be stored in special cabinets and specially managed.
   2. All types of instruments, specimens, models, and drugs should be by the different nature, performance and requirements, subsection, classification storage, and positioning in the cabinet, so that storage is neat, and easy to use, after rehabilitation. Also do a good job of dust, moisture, pressure resistance, anti-magnetic, anti-corrosion, closed lights, and other work.
   3. Valuable equipment and flammable, explosive, highly toxic drugs set up special rooms, counters, and double-locked management, to eliminate the occurrence of foreign accidents.
   4. Do a good job in the machine room, laboratory safety and security, be familiar with the safety procedures and emergency measures after an accident, and often keep the instrument room, and laboratory clean.
   5. Pay attention to bacterial infection and wear lab gloves and lab coats when doing cell experiments.

Risk assessment and safety inspection are performed before the project starts to design and before every experiment and testing. And safety measures such as experimental attire and eye protection are strictly followed during all operations.

Members are warned to wear gloves and lab coats when conducting experiments involving chemical reagents to avoid dangerous reagents such as acids, corrosive chemicals, and mutagenic agents from dripping on our members' bodies.

All our team's professors, supervisors, and advisors reviewed our protocol documents before we started experiments. All team members have undergone safety training and risk management training, such as specific experimental operation safety, biological safety, fire electrical safety, etc., and are guided by safety officers and teachers before the experiment. Our labs have long been involved in bacterial research, and our program mentors have specialized organizations and rules to manage any risks, and we're always on hand to ask them for help.

Project Safety

We are making DNA probes that did not involve living organisms, and all the nucleic acid fragments were synthesized by companies, and the companies are members of IGSC. We promise that we will not use any other organisms that aren’t on the white list in our experimental project and any parts involved in the experimental process will not be dangerous. We wil perform LATE-PCR on the designed molecular probes and perform a weighted sum of the multidimensional biomarker input signals to distinguish between bacterial and viral infection by monitoring the fluorescent signal. All of us will be aware of all the potential risks and wear lab gloves and lab coats when performing experiments to protect against chemical damage. In addition to this, from a diagnostic point of view, we are committed to strictly controlling all aspects of the experimental process. If the project is approved, future ongoing development of our project will not require releases beyond the controlled range. At the same time, our team members evaluated the project concerning adverse consequences such as human health and safety hazards. It was confirmed that our components cannot be transmitted in the environment because nucleic acid molecules do not replicate themselves.

Human Practice Safety

Our team has always been human-centered and committed to promoting the precise diagnosis of diseases. To understand the development prospect of precise diagnosis, we interview PIs and doctors and seek advice from all experts on possible safety risks and preventive measures. For instance, the symptoms of bacterial and viral infections in clinical settings are often very similar and often require laboratory confirmation using a variety of techniques such as cell culture, microscopy, molecular testing, serology and antigen testing, which carries certain risks.Therefore, the precise diagnosis of bacterial and viral infections using DNA molecules calculation is more reliable and safer.

We collected data from different kinds of people, such as experts, the general public and stakeholders, and we obtained formal approval for our work. Additionally, the questionnaire was completed in the form of anonymity to protect the personal privacy of the respondents.