Safety | Ohio-State-FABE

Safety and Security

When we initially heard that we could use a lab for iGEM, we spoke in detail about lab safety and being in the lab during certain proctored hours to ensure the safety of ourselves and others. We also discussed using the correct pipettes and wearing gloves when working within the lab. This was all done when we had lectures about lab safety from Satvik, our graduate Wet Lab advisor. Overall, general lab safety also had to be followed, including cleaning lab surfaces, biohazard signs, and eye protection. Hair also would have to be tied up, long pants worn, and close-toed shoes.

Our lab would have needed Biosafety level 2 clearance this year because we would have been working with gene fragments from pathogenic strains of bacteria. Following BSL-2 guidelines would have been very important if we were able to get into our lab as working with human pathogens can pose dangerous threats. If we were unable to get our lab cleared to be BSL-2 certified, we looked into moving our work into another lab, but we did not have any success. Unfortunately, because we were unable to use the laboratory that we hoped to use, we were unable to use the safety precautions that we discussed.