| SJTU-BioX-Shanghai

Working in a safe and secure environment is an essential component of responsible innovation and research. Our team recognizes the importance of safety in various aspects we participate and takes meticulous safety measures to minimize the hazards to our members and the environment. This page shows our safety measures and consideration in detail.

To uphold principles of bioethics, ensure laboratory safety, safeguard the welfare of our researchers and execute our experiments effectively, we strictly adhere to both the "Biosafety Law of the People's Republic of China" and the laboratory safety regulations established by the National Demonstration Middle School for Life Sciences and Technology at Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

Our laboratory boasts a cutting-edge Level-One facility equipped with laminar flow hoods, fume hoods, emergency eyewash stations, fire safety measures, and more. These facilities guarantee the secure utilization of laboratory equipment and ensure the welfare of our researchers. Also, we have clean benches and biosafety cabinets in our laboratory, where we handle all the materials that have potential threat to our health and to the environment.

Fig. 2 Yang Zhenxi, member of the wet lab group, is preparing the lead solution in the biosafety cabinet.

For the bacteria strain, we used Escherichia coli DH5-alpha and BL21(DE3) in our project. These two strains of E. coli are classified under Biosafety Risk Group 1 and were always handled in an aseptic environment. For the materials, most of the reagents we used in experiments like molecular cloning, agarose gel electrophoresis, SDS-PAGE, western-blotting are non-toxic or low-toxic. When dealing with lead chloride and lead sulfate solutions, all experimental operations were handled in biosafety cabinet to prevent accidental intake. Also, we have the hazardous chemical cabinet to place all the hazardous, toxic and harmful chemicals, including the methanol used in SDS-PAGE.

Every member of our team involved in experiments has received basic safety and security training. The guidance from our tutors, lectures by experts at our school and the research-oriented training we received assisted us significantly. In particular, professor Kong Long from the School of Environmental Science and Engineering in SJTU provided us with comprehensive guidance throughout the preparation, experiments and disposal involving heavy metal ion-contaminated wastewater, and our instructor professor Wang Yushu provided us with extensive guidance on operating high-speed centrifuges safely and efficiently.

Throughout our experiments, all generated waste materials are meticulously categorized and collected. Moreover, any equipment exposed to engineered organisms undergoes rigorous high-temperature steam sterilization before disposal. This stringent waste management process further underscores our unwavering commitment to safety and environmental responsibility.

Aiming at putting our project in the natural environment, we design a hardware to place the E. coli. The engineered bacteria are put in an isolated and closed unit of hardware. We add bacterial filter membranes to cover the holes on the unit to prevent bacteria leak. Also, this unit is designed not to contact with the natural environment directly. We keep working on the improved hardware and making optimizations. If our project is put in use in the future, more calculation and simulation works will be done. For example, the tightness of the hardware will be evaluated precisely and the possible diffusion rate of the bacteria in natural waters will also be modelled and monitored.