Safety And Security

Our safety summary highlights how we designed and conducted our project responsibly, using non-pathogenic strains, safe reagents, and strict lab practices. We aimed to ensure our work is safe, ethical, and accessible for anyone interested in our research and project.

Safety and Security Award

Risk Assessment and Analysis

Biological Risks

  • We used E. coli TOP10 and NEB Stable competent cells, both of which are non-pathogenic lab strains generally recognized as safe for molecular cloning. These strains can't survive well outside controlled lab environments and are classified as Biosafety Level 1 (BSL-1) organisms.
  • Our project involves cloning promoters (PoxyS, PnorV, Plux) and reporter genes (e.g., GFP). None of these genes are toxic, pathogenic, or known to cause harm to humans, animals, or plants.
  • No pathogenic organisms, toxins, or antibiotic resistance elements (other than standard plasmid markers AmpR and KanR) were introduced.

Chemical Risks

  • Standard restriction digests, ligations, and transformations were performed using reagents such as buffers, enzymes, and antibiotics at low concentrations.
  • Ethidium bromide and other mutagens were not used; we relied on safe dyes and standard sequencing services for DNA analysis.
  • We purchased safe concentrations of Hydrogen Peroxide and a Nitric Oxide donor (DETA-NONOate) to ensure safety when testing.

Physical Risks

  • Experiments were carried out using basic molecular biology equipment (micropipettes, centrifuges, incubators, spectrophotometers).
  • Risks included pipette strain, minor chemical spills, contamination, or equipment misuse. These were minimized through training and practice, proper PPE such as lab coats, gloves, goggles, and lab supervision.

Security Risks

  • The parts we used are standard iGEM-compatible parts from the registry.
  • Our design has no application in bioterrorism or harmful misuse, only to help cure an inflammatory condition.
  • All DNA orders were screened by Twist under the International Gene Synthesis Consortium (IGSC) biosecurity framework, ensuring no restricted sequences could be ordered.

Safety Features in Our Design

  • Non-pathogenic chassis - We only used lab-safe E. coli (TOP10, NEB Stable). These strains are auxotrophic and poorly adapted to natural environments, which reduces the risk of accidental spread.
  • Benign genetic parts - Our promoters are native regulatory sequences, and GFP is a harmless fluorescent protein commonly used in education and by other iGEM teams for testing validation.
  • Containment - Work was performed in a BSL-1 facility with autoclaving and proper disposal of cultures.
  • Substitution of safer materials - Whenever possible, we used non-toxic reagents (safe nucleic acid stains instead of ethidium bromide, nitric oxide donors rather than the actual molecule itself).
  • Kill-switch potential - Although not implemented this year, our design can be adapted with kill-switch systems or auxotrophy to ensure engineered strains cannot survive outside the lab for long.

Design Rationale

We made these design and lab choices to:

  • Ensure no harm to humans, animals, or the environment.
  • Comply with iGEM's safety requirements and our local lab biosafety regulations.
  • Build a biosensor system safely that can serve as proof-of-concept without any clinical or environmental risks to potential users or ourselves.