Safe Lab Work: The Foundation of Lyme-AID
We understand that safe lab work is the foundation for effective research. Thus, we made safe protocol and extensive education a priority before even beginning any hands-on work. Namely, we ensured each team member was completely qualified on laboratory standards by working with a qualified professional, Ms. Patti Kryzankowski, before even entering the lab. Each team member took accountability for the safety of themselves and other team members by being educated on procedures, location of safety equipment, disposal and cleaning techniques, and understanding of biosafety levels. From this understanding, we aimed to elevate safety to a main goal of our project.
Our Approach to the Safety and Security Award
The Problem
Borrelia burgdorferi is a harmful organism of biosafety level II designation, meaning more extensive laboratory areas and procedures are required to perform research with it. Thus, limitations on the ability to continue work on this bacteria arise due to issues with accessibility to advanced lab areas.
iGEM USAFA’s Solution
We understand that biosafety levels and respective accessibility to qualified laboratory areas can pose a significant challenges to research goals. So, USAFA iGEM’s solution was to develop a model organism that reflects the qualities of Borrelia burgdorferi, but does not require the same elevated safety levels.
We chose to use Escherichia coli, a bacteria ubiquitious to many labs that only requires a facility with biosafety level 1 standards. Namely, we aimed to express the surface proteins OspA and OspC, which are specific identifying features of Borrelia burgdorferi, on Escherichia coli. Through this technique, we could work in-depth on the diagnostic properties of Borrelia burgdorferi, without the elevated safety risks associated with a high biosafety level organism.
How Others Can Benefit
Other teams can use our procedures for creating a model organism via expressing organism-specific proteins on a safe, widely accessible alternative, such as Escherichia coli. In doing so, the broad ideas that come with diversity of though will be less limited by accessibility to advanced biosafety level facilities. Our aim was to lower one of the barriers that prevents intensive research on potentially dangerous species, as these may be the answers we need the most.
In this way, we can ensure further research can be done to advance our work, ultimately benefitting those who need answers the most: the patients. Furthermore, the prospect of a model organism encourages the implementation of synthetic biology research earlier in academic pathways. By eliminating the need for biosafety level II standards, our model organism can be used in high school laboratories, calling in the next generation of scientists that will continue this essential work.