Safety practices

A catchy quote needed!

Safety, being an integral part of any research project, helps in analyzing the feasibility of any work. It gives the researcher an insight into the probable ways their work could be harmful to humans or the environment as a whole.

Here, for iGEM 2021, our project focuses on engineering recombinant chitinases with antifungal activity against a broad spectrum of fungal species. Chitinases, being hydrolytic enzymes, if accidentally released into the environment, can harm non-target organisms like insects.

To ensure the overall safety of the project as well as our fellow team members in these pandemic times, several measures have been taken and followed ceremoniously.

Lab safety

1. Protective clothing:
• Lab coats must be worn while working in labs and not outside the lab
• Gloves, especially while handling toxic chemicals and carcinogenic substances.
• Safety goggles must be worn to avoid any spills in the eyes.
• Face masks, especially with minute pore sizes should be worn. This prevents any inhalation of fungal spores.
2. Washing the hands with 70% ethanol before and after use of the lab.
3. No food or drinks in the lab.
4. Each member of the team should familiarize themselves with the location and use of safety showers, fire extinguishers, eyewash stations, and fire alarms.
5. Several short notes are stuck at various locations in the lab, indicating some lab rules, reminders of any specifications of any apparatus to be used, etc. This helps in keeping a check that one does not forget to follow the code of conduct in a lab.
6. Chemical safety:
• MSDS of the chemicals is read and noted of any serious dangers.
• For EtBr and Beta-mercaptoethanol, the gloves and tips used are immediately discarded in the yellow bin. We do make sure that we use a single set of pipettes for its use and wipe it with ethanol after the experiment.
• The agarose gel containing EtBr is rightfully discarded in the yellow bin.
• The corrosive chemicals are handled in a chemical hood wearing gloves, covered shoes, lab coats, masks, and goggles. This prevents any injury in case of any spills.
• Any cytotoxic waste such as TEMED (used in the gel for SDS-PAGE) is discarded in the yellow bin.

Biomedical waste segregation guidelines