Gifu team belongs to the laboratory, which is responsible by our PI, Prof. Iwahashi*. He is an applied microbiologist, and he is experienced in handling recombinants. He supported us design our project to be safe. We also receive advice from teachers and graduate students in this laboratory. Thus, we can review and improve our method and environment of the laboratory for the safe experiments.
The relatively simple experimental method using transformation of E. coli made it easier to deal with possible problems during the experiment. Our engineered organisms carry plasmids encoding drug resistant proteins such as beta-lactamase, but we do not use infectious E. coli, so there is little concern about infection with drug-resistant bacteria.
Cartagena Law
In the university duty, all the experimenters must take a lecture on Cartagena law （" Law Concerning the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biological Diversity through Regulations on the Use of Living Modified Organisms "）prior to the start of the experiment.
In the Gifu team, even those who were not involved in the experiments received this lecture. This allowed our team members to learn about the potential impact of genetically modified organisms on biodiversity.
We have strictly followed the Release Beyond Containment Policy. Genetically engineered organisms used for transformation are always sterilized by an autoclave. In addition, the engineered organisms are highly nutrient-demanding, which makes it very difficult for them to survive outside the laboratory environment in the event of an accidental leak.