Entering the lab begins with learning the rules of lab safety. From wet labs to every piece of hardware, it is an important part of ensuring safety in our experiments. Therefore, IGEM's approach to creating a safe lab environment is detailed here. It is important that each member follow strict safety procedures and keep safety specific procedures in mind at all times.

- Wash your hands when entering and leaving the lab.

- Do not bring food or drinks into the lab, and do not allow eating or drinking in the lab.

- Lab coats, gloves, masks and splash goggles must be strictly worn in the lab area.

- Long hair needs to be tied up to prevent hair from falling into reagents and other uncontrollable elements.

- Use 75% ethanol to sanitize all surfaces of the experiment prior to the start of the experiment.

- Dispose of disposable sharp, broken glassware and tubing by sterilizing and placing in specially labeled vessels to prevent accidental injury to cleaning personnel.

- When using ultra-low temperature refrigerators to pick up and place samples, gloves must be strictly worn to prevent frostbite.

- When using liquid nitrogen and dry ice, it is strictly forbidden to seal the vessels to prevent causing an explosion.

- Always know the proper procedures for handling laboratory materials.

Our project wet labs will use non-pathogenic E. coli, shakers, etc., so the following safety is required.

(1) When we used gel scanners and computers in our experiments, we cleaned the scanner plate in a timely manner after using the equipment, strictly wore gloves when picking up gels, and saved the gels or disposed of them to a fixed garbage can as needed at the end of the photo shoot.

(2) When using the ultra-clean bench and UV disinfection, exposed skin must not be exposed directly to the UV lamp, and the UV lamp must be turned off during use of the bench.

(3) Other hardware/software is also used in accordance with equipment requirements for safe operation.