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Team:Tyngsboro MA Tigers/Safety
From 2012hs.igem.org
Safety
Each member of the Tyngsborough iGEM Tiger Squad has learned and currently follows the Flynn's scientific safety contract. Each year, we take a scientific safety refresher to brush up on our safety procedures. We were always supervised in our labs by our Team Leader, Ms. Ravgiala.
Click here for a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOQAq4Nl4og link to a funny Youtube video] of what NOT to do in a lab setting. (All credit goes to the producer of the video Zach Lipovsky.)
Click here for the Safety Contract read and signed by all students.
Environmental Dangers With our device, the largest environmental concern is proper disposal of the bacteria themselves and the chemicals we were using. As we were never able to test our theoretical device, the concerns of using carbon monoxide were not a concern. We were always careful to properly dispose of cell growth plates and micro tubes, always letting them seit for 20 minutes in 10% bleach and sealing them properly. Chemicals that could be possibly considered dangerous were always used in a waste hood and disposed of properly.
Personal Injury Dangers
Aseptic Technique
Lab Sanitation
However, given the rather unusual implications of having a synthetic biology club in a high school, we also took many other precautions against harming us and the environment. We always were very careful handling the genetic material, and wore gloves and goggles during any experiments, especially ones involving bacteria. All equipment used, whether it was thrown away or reusable, was cleaned in bleach thoroughly after each time we used it.
For environmental considerations of our 'machine,' we found no harmful implications. The use of the machine would require no direct contact with the E. coli on the part of the user, and the genetic parts we were combining have no foreseeable negative effects on humans or the environment, using only detectors and the banana scent producing part already discovered and used by MIT.
Demonstrating Safety At iGEM
