Overview
As the landscape of synthetic biology and molecular engineering has evolved over the last three to four decades, the scientific society has made every attempt to ensure safety to both individuals within and outside of the lab. As many of these attempts predate our iGEM team, many of the safety guidelines are part of the scientific culture! And although our specific plasmid will be novel, we are not inventing plasmids or the technique; rather, we have adopted known techniques which have been developed with safety in mind.
As the scientific community (and this includes us, the students) continues to make these best efforts, we do so using readily available material that adheres to strict guidelines. These guidelines can include protocols and rules provided by OSHA and the DOT at the federal level within the US, the FDNY at the local/city level, within New York City, at the corporate level with vendors like Qiagen, IDT, NEB and Addgene and at the individual lab level with BioLabs NYU. All of these entities are in constant communication to ensure that their safety protocols overlap and that we, the users, are adhering to said rules, regulations and laws.
When we, the users, encounter ambiguity, which happens quite often when we’re pushing against the known boundary of our scientific knowledge, we often have to stop and think about getting to the next step using the safest path. Sometimes that means referring to literature or asking your principal investigator (PI) or speaking with your safety officer(s). For us, we’re very fortunate to have two excellent safety officers with Allison and Atera!
Interviews
Allison Rogalski
What drew you to AND how long have you been connected to scientific research?
It’s been a bit of a winding journey most of my life! I was unsure what I wanted to do when I was in high school. But I was attending an accelerated math and science program for high school and my mom wanted me to go into medicine. I started taking community college classes during my junior year and became interested in psychology. I started also getting very interested in pathology after going on an AP biology field trip to the medical examiner’s office in Detroit. Entering college, I was a 1/3 of the way through a psychology major because of my college classes in high school but decided to switch focus a bit to the pre-med route. I started doing biochemistry research on alpha-amylase inhibition as part of my honors work my junior year. That work became my honors thesis and my first scientific publication. I ended up with a Bachelor’s of Psychology and Honors Chemistry with a minor in Biology. I applied to med school with the intent of focusing on pathology, but didn’t get in. We hit a recession when I graduated, so there was less work out there and I decided to do a Master’s of Medical Science to either help my chances at med school or find a different route. I became more interested in pathology and cancer biology and completed my Master’s thesis on Clear Cell Sarcoma, a rare soft tissue cancer which my sister had been diagnosed with in 1989. Again, didn’t get into my second round of applying to medical school, so decided to start looking for jobs in research. There wasn’t a lot of work open in metro-Detroit, so I started looking to move elsewhere. I ended up in NYC working in the department of Genetic Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine as a research technician studying the effects of smoking and lung disease. I was promoted to research specialist and then to lab manager when the position opened. There were a lot of changes in the department after almost 10 years, so I started looking elsewhere and found Biolabs. I’ve been here since 2019.
What made you pivot away from individualized scientific research and towards health and safety?
As I was working at Weill Cornell, I started to take on more and more operational based tasks from developing the technician schedules, further developing and writing standard operating procedures for our laboratory, teaching new employees and post-docs, ordering, etc. When the lab manager role opened in our department, I decided it was the next step up in the role. With that, the lab manager role involved ensuring our department complies with environmental health and safety regulations and working hand in hand with the EHS department at Weill Cornell. I was still filling in when people were out, training new employees, and helping out on projects for our department’s research, but more focused on operations. Once I realized things were changing more in our department, I decided it was time for me to move on. I randomly came across my current role at Biolabs knowing nothing about biotech incubators, but once I researched more and interviewed, the idea seemed very exciting. In this role, I don’t have any hand in our companies’ research and we strictly focus on operations. With that, I think a lot of company founders are not in the lab or have older, more lax experiences. I like to say that we are training baby companies to be adult companies in science. With that comes a lot of responsibilities and learning regulations that companies need to learn and stick with if they want to move forward. Plus with all people coming in with different experiences, we want to make sure we train them on the appropriate rules and regulations for NYC.
Have you enjoyed this transition away from bench research?
It’s different in different ways! I feel like I excel more on the operational side as I really like organizational aspect, things running smoothly (or at least trying to get them to run smoothly!). I don’t enjoy having to be the bad cop most of the time and enforcing rules and consequences. I feel like this side is more engaging with other people and less concentrated on just yourself and your work.
Why is it important to conducting research in a safe environment?
First is keeping yourself safe! All of the rules and regulations that exist have been put into place because people have harmed (or killed) themselves and others. There are tons of examples out there involving accidents that set new rules into motion and highlighted what happens when the existing rules are not followed. Next is liability. From making sure your employees are performing their work in a safe way to labeling and shipping items in a safe and correct manner to conducting research trials in a way to find and report any issues with your product. You become responsible for the safety of others including employees, any vendors, the public, etc. You have to think about more government agencies, for example, working with the FDA to release a drug. There is also reputation. With liability, you have to think about things like fines, penalties, and lawsuits. All of things can become public knowledge and then damages the finances and reputation of companies. A big example is Purdue Pharma and OxyContin. While people are usually thinking just in front of them, they need to look at the bigger pictures and long-term effects. We hope to train our residents to get into good habits from the beginning.
BioLabs has to adhere to many entities, some at the federal level (eg OSHA, DOT, EPA), some at the city level (FDNY) and some at the corporate level (BioLabs). How do you, as a safety officer, work to balance these lines of communication so that the community always practices their best science in a safe workspace?
First is learning and working with more knowledgeable groups. It is why we have Triumvirate Environmental as a safety consultant in order to learn and gain more knowledge from them. Generally entities put out bulletins or updates on a regular (annual, biannually, etc.) for any updates, so keep aware of those. Then we develop and update our own policies and protocols to fall in line with any changes. A great and current example is that Biolabs HQ has developed a volunteer safety team, which included myself and others from different levels of our organization. This team is helping to standardize safety across all of our sites. The committee just announced the first plans coming into place to the whole of our organization and next, we will be incorporating them into our own policies. From there, we then have to communicate these changes to our site and residents. We will do this through in-person town halls, newsletters, notices, announcements on the TV, etc. Using all forms of communication to make sure we hit all our members. We will have an adjustment/learning period before enforcement will begin to get residents acclimated to changes.
BioLabs has close relationships with several contractors that deal with medical and regulated waste. Why is it important to utilize these specialized contractors and forge and maintain these relationships?
Again because of issues in the past, regulations have sprung up to keep people safe. Love Canal is a huge example of this. Decades of dumping toxic chemicals caused harm to the health of hundreds of residents and sparked activism in creating new protections for people. Now there are a ton of rules and regulations on how items can be shipped and disposed of to minimize harm to people and the environment. You want to work with someone who is knowledgeable, trained, and following all the regulations because in the end, it comes back to you as the generator to be liable. Biolabs has to be trained on regulations regarding the Department of Transportation and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act to make sure we are properly disposing of our waste and signing off on paperwork related to it. This paperwork then goes through a lot of steps to make sure that items are handed off in the appropriate manner as they travel through the system and how items are being disposed. You need to find and vet companies that you can trust to do these things. If something were to happen and the waste was not properly disposed, very large fines and lawsuits can happen to companies.
Scientific progress moves at an incredible pace. How do you and BioLabs ensure that best practices are always at the forefront in order to protect the community while making forward momentum?
To my previous answer of learning and working with consultants that are more knowledgeable and can teach you. Scientific progress moves much faster than regulations, so you just need to keep up with agencies schedules. Most only update annually, others every few years. In terms of on an operational end, it’s more trial and error and what is working for our community at that point. We talk with our residents and ask for feedback. If it doesn’t involve government rules, we can adapt as we see fit to meet the needs of our community. We have more operational based lab meetings with the other Biolabs sites to see what best practices are across the board to make sure our sites are working well. For example, the freezers and cold room were becoming more of a free for all despite certain rules. Other sites give every company a standard amount of space, where we were seeing large companies use much larger spaces than smaller ones. So we modified our we went about our rules and changed wording of policies to help make things run more smoothly. Now every lab bench has a pre-assigned space in the freezer and the more a company grows, the more space they will then receive.
What is your favorite topic in science?
Pathology, particularly the practice using cells and imaging to diagnosed disease
Your least favorite?
Mycology (I hate mushrooms!)
What is your spirit animal?
I’m definitely a cat person.
Atera Alam
What drew you to AND how long have you been connected to scientific research?
I have been connected to research since junior year of my undergraduate program. I was initially put into a research lab through a program in college with no choice of my own, haha. But when I started my research, I started to enjoy the scientific process of building a hypothesis and testing that hypothesis to come up with new findings.
What made you pivot away from individualized scientific research and towards health and safety?
Before joining my current role, I was trying to find a different role, but I was unsure as to what I wanted to do. What I did know was that I wanted to be more in the operational and business side of things. I also wanted to join a position where I would be able to communicate with people from many different backgrounds. I was missing that in my previous roles since being a bench scientist usually meant keeping your head down and finishing your assays. Ultimately, I stumbled upon this role through my predecessor, and it happened to be the role that encompassed all the things I was looking for!
Have you enjoyed this transition away from bench research?
I have. What I realized is that in the industry, bench work can get repetitive and mundane. I very much enjoy the dynamic nature of this position. I feel as though everyday has something different in store for me.
Why is it important to conduct research in a safe environment?
Working in the lab exposes people to some super hazardous materials. Even with all the regulations we currently have in the US for wet labs, people still get into accidents due to the type of products scientists are surrounded by every day. This is one of the biggest reasons why safety is of the utmost importance. Community safety is also another big factor. Often, scientists work with materials that can cause and spread diseases in the population, working in a safe environment with proper regulations limits that possibility. Another reason is ensuring care for our environment. Unsurprisingly, these materials can also be harmful to the environment, following safety protocols helps us in minimizing harm to our surroundings as well.
BioLabs has to adhere to many entities, some at the federal level (e.g. OSHA, DOT, EPA), some at the city level (FDNY) and some at the corporate level (BioLabs). How do you, as a safety officer, work to balance these lines of communication so that the community always practices their best science in a safe workspace?
As Allison mentioned in her response, we receive support to help us ensure that we are in compliance with all these regulatory requirements from different entities. Triumvirate Environmental assists us to make sure that we are in line with all the expectations. Another support system that we have is from the corporate! We have a director of EH&S at BioLabs who helps us to be in compliance. On a ground level, Allison and I ensure that operationally we are in fact in compliance by ensuring that the residents are adhering to the rules, maintaining and checking functionality of safety equipment, providing training, etc.
BioLabs has close relationships with several contractors that deal with medical and regulated waste. Why is it important to utilize these specialized contractors and forge and maintain these relationships?
A chunk of our jobs is to maintain relationships with different stakeholders, and the contractors and vendors are some of the stakeholders we work with. We utilize vendors to deal with this regulated waste because they are the experts in proper disposal of such waste. It is important to seek expert/professional help while dealing with sensitive items such as regulated waste. An improper disposal/handling of them can have many repercussions from different regulatory agencies.
It is important to maintain positive relationships with these specialized contractors, and just with any vendors, sponsors, residents, etc. because they are a key factor in making sure the business runs smoothly.
Scientific progress moves at an incredible pace. How do you and BioLabs ensure that best practices are always at the forefront in order to protect the community while making forward momentum?
We try to ensure safety by providing training [sessions] and sending reminders while trying to ensure that it does not take up too much time from our residents. We also roll out necessary documents such as Emergency Action Plan and Chemical Hygiene Plan, to ensure safety for our resident companies and keep all of us in compliance with regulatory agencies.
What is your favorite topic in science?
Astronomy/Astrophysics
Your least favorite?
Geology. I don't really get it.
What is your spirit animal?
An animal I can relate to is the Panda. It stumbles through life but somehow makes it while being adored by the mass.