Human Practices & Education
Human Practices and Education in safety are always the core principle of safety work. To translate safety awareness into practical actions, we must prioritize strengthening safety awareness training before conducting experiments. Through HP and various safety education initiatives organized by the college and our team, we ensure that all team members deeply recognize the importance of safety. Only in this way can we guarantee both individual growth and experimental results.
Medical consultation with doctors related to biosafety
On July 15, 2025, we had the opportunity to visit Zhejiang Hospital (Sandun Campus) for an interview with an endocrinologist, focusing on our biosafety-related project, specifically the treatment and management of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM).
Through in-depth conversation with this seasoned clinician, we gained insights into current diabetes treatment approaches, as well as key clinical biosafety considerations including patient resistance to injectable therapy, post-withdrawal disease rebound, and treatment contraindications.
She endorsed the green tea-based therapeutic approach but emphasized that its R&D phase must include biosafety assessments of interactions with gut microbiota, such as the risk of intestinal flora imbalance. Regarding gut microbiota-modifying treatments, which now enjoy greater public acceptance due to increased scientific literacy, she advised there should be more microbiota sample biosafety protocols and targeted education to training staff on intervention risk monitoring, and guiding patients on safety precautions.
Figure 1. A member of HiZJU-China interviewing the endocrinologist
iGEM Thematic Symposium on Engineered Living Therapeutics
Live biotherapeutics require special attention to biosafety, ensuring that while exerting their therapeutic effects, they do not cause severe harm to the human body or the environment. On August 5, 2025, we participated in a seminar on live biotherapeutics hosted by iGEM Peking. As a seminar centered on live biotherapeutics, it featured three core topics for academic exchange and mutual learning including “Targeted Delivery and Environmental Sensing Strategies”, “Design and Optimization of Therapeutic Logic Circuits” and “Challenges in Safety and Controllability of Live Biotherapeutics”.
We attended talks by President Chenli Liu and Dr. Bing Zhai from the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology (SIAT), Chinese Academy of Sciences. They emphasized that “safety” and “controllability” are fundamental prerequisites for live biotherapeutic technologies. Only by fulfilling these two core requirements can such technologies truly move toward practical application. Additionally, they highlighted the importance of adhering to biological laws while prioritizing humanistic care throughout the entire process of technological development.
Figure 2. Interactive Activities of the iGEM Thematic Symposium
By engaging with innovative solutions, intelligent designs, and practical guidance at this seminar, our team not only expanded our understanding of diverse live biotherapeutic approaches but also was prompted to further refine our project design, especially in terms of biosafety and multiple in vivo regulation mechanisms while upholding a patient compliance-centric perspective.
Emergency and Rescue Manual
To help the public popularize emergency rescue knowledge and master response plans for emergency situations, we have compiled the Emergency and Rescue Manual. This manual aims to enhance the public's safety awareness at the source, prevent risks, and help us continuously improve our ability to manage risks.
Laboratory Safety Training
I. Training Objectives
• Master the identification methods of core safety risks including biological contamination, chemical hazards and instrument operation risks in biological laboratories and their corresponding preventive measures.
• Proficiency in mastering and implementing standardized operations such as personal protection, biological material management, and emergency response to ensure the personal safety of laboratory personnel and the reliability of experimental results.
• Clarify personal safety responsibilities, establish the concept of “safety first”, and develop standardized experimental operation habits.
Figure 3. Members of HiZJU-China attending laboratory safety training led by senior student Tanglei Zhang
II. Core Training Content
1. Basic Understanding of Laboratory Safety
(1) Risk Classification and Levels
• Biological risks: Infection risks from pathogenic microorganisms including pathogenic bacteria, viruses and diffusion risks of recombinant genetic materials.
• Chemical risks: Hazards caused by the corrosiveness, toxicity, or flammable and explosive properties of substances such as antibiotics, disinfectants, and organic solvents.
• Physical risks: Safety hazards during instrument operation, such as centrifuge imbalance, autoclave overpressure, and bioreactor pipeline leakage.
(2) Legal and Regulatory Basis
Interpret the core clauses related to experimental operations in the Regulation on the Bio-safety Management of Pathogenic Microbe Labs and Safety Management of Genetic Engineering, and clarify the consequences and responsibilities of non-compliant operations.
Figure 4. Laboratory Safety Information Card
2. Personal Protection and Access Management
(1) Specifications for the Use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
• Lab coats: Must fully cover the body, with cuffs tightened. If contaminated, they must be replaced immediately or entirely autoclaved;
• Gloves: Gloves must be replaced when contacting different types of materials. After removing gloves, hands must be disinfected using the "seven-step handwashing technique".
• Safety goggles/face shields: Must be worn when operating volatile reagents or shaking bacterial solutions outside the biosafety cabinet to prevent injury from liquid splashing.
(2) Access and Authorization Process
New personnel must first complete theoretical training, then pass the operational assessment, and finally sign the safety commitment letter. Only after meeting these requirements can they be granted laboratory access.
Using others' access credentials to enter the laboratory, and conducting high-risk experiments like pathogenic strain culture unsupervised, are strictly prohibited.
Personnel who are the last to leave the laboratory each day must verify that water, electricity, and gas have been turned off, and close all doors and windows prior to departure. If hazardous operations or overnight experiments are required, ensure at least two personnel are present and submit a report for record to the college.
Figure 5. Laboratory Caution Signs
3. Practical Operation of Biological Material Safety Management
(1) Safety in Strain and Cell Operation
Collection and storage: Collect strains by registering in the Biological Material Ledger. Cryovials must be clearly labeled with name, serial number, and freezing date. Ultra-low temperature freezers must be stored in partitions with pathogenic bacteria stored separately.
Operation restrictions: Our experiments involve no pathogenic microorganisms exceeding biosafety level 2 (BSL-2). Inoculation and pipetting of BSL-2 and lower-level pathogenic microorganisms must be performed in a biosafety cabinet to prevent aerosol generation.
Inactivation and disposal: Waste strains must be autoclaved at 121 ℃ for at least 15 minutes or soaked thoroughly in alkaline solution for more than 2 hours. The details of the disposal process should be recorded promptly in the log book.
(2) Control of Genetic Engineering Materials
Operations such as recombinant plasmid extraction must be performed in the biosafety cabinet. After each operation, thoroughly wipe the workbench with 75% ethanol for disinfection.
Removing genetic materials from the laboratory is strictly prohibited. Residual restriction enzyme digestion products and transformed bacterial cultures must be high-temperature inactivated before being disposed of according to specifications.
Figure 6. Safety Information Card for Hazardous Chemicals
4. Safety Specifications for Instrument Operation
(1) Key Operation Points for High-Risk Instruments
• Autoclaves: Check the safety valve and the tightness of the sealing ring before use. Do not open the lid without authorization during sterilization. After sterilization, wait until the pressure drops to 0MPa before opening to prevent steam burns.
• Centrifuges: Centrifuge tubes must be placed symmetrically, with a weight error ≤0.1g; confirm that the lid is locked before starting. If abnormal vibration occurs during operation, stop the machine immediately and open the lid for inspection only after the rotor is completely stationary.
• Turbidostat/fermenter: Calibrate the turbidimeter and pH electrode before operation, and check the tightness of pipeline connections. When replacing the culture medium, first close the pump valve, drain the residual liquid, and then disinfect the pipeline.
(2) Instrument Maintenance Responsibility
After using large-scale shared equipment such as the microplate reader and HPLC, record the experiment details and equipment status whether it is operating normally in time, and report any abnormalities to the instructor. Before use, communicate with the relevant supervisor to receive training, and only after passing the training can one operate the equipment independently.
5. Waste Classification and Disposal Process
(1) Classification Standards and Operation Requirements
• Biological waste: Bacterial solutions, contaminated petri dishes, and pipette tips must be placed in yellow autoclave bags, labeled with classification cards indicating "biological hazard," "disposal date," and "responsible person," and transported weekly to the recycling facility by designated personnel.
• Chemical waste: Acidic, alkaline, and organic waste liquids must be poured separately into their respective dedicated waste liquid barrels, with strict prohibition of mixing.
• Sharps: Needles and broken glass must be placed in sharps containers. Once a container is 3/4 full, it will be sealed, labeled, and handed over to a professional disposal agency.
(2) Prohibited Behaviors
Don’t directly pouring biological waste into sewers and mixing sharps with regular domestic waste.
6. Training Assessment and Continuous Management
(1) Requirements for Continuous Training
Laboratories shall organize regular safety refresher training, covering analysis of recent safety hazard cases and safe operation guidelines for new instruments and reagents.
New employees and transferred personnel must participate in safety training and assessment. Individuals who fail the assessment will have their laboratory access revoked.
(2) Training Records and Responsibility Tracing
All training content and assessment results must be archived as the basis for managing laboratory personnel's access permissions.
In the event of a safety accident caused by failure to comply with training requirements, those responsible will be held accountable pursuant to the Measures for the Pursuit of Laboratory Safety Responsibilities. In serious cases, the matter will be referred to the appropriate authorities for handling.
All personnel must master the training content. Laboratory supervisors will conduct regular spot checks on training effectiveness to ensure safety norms are implemented.
Figure 7. Schematic diagram of safety training
Laboratory Safety Access Examination
All new HiZJUers are required to pass the Laboratory Safety Access Examination and related assessments before conducting any laboratory experiments. This mandatory knowledge test ensures that every student entering laboratory facilities possesses comprehensive knowledge of standardized equipment and instrument operating procedures, awareness of potential laboratory hazards, as well as competence in responding to laboratory emergencies.
The examination is discipline-specific. For wet lab members, it includes specialized questions on biological and chemical safety, which evaluates both fundamental laboratory safety principles and specialized protocols tailored to specific experimental procedures. Students who score below 90 must retake the examination until they pass. Those who fail more than three times will be denied all access to laboratory experiments.
Figure 8. Laboratory safety access examination for new HiZJUers
Our college also maintains a dedicated examination platform that encompasses a wide range of safety topics, including general safety, chemical safety, medical and biological safety, mechanical and structural safety, electrical safety, radiation safety, cybersecurity, special equipment safety, and fire safety. Serving as both an assessment tool and a learning resource, the platform allows students practice with test questions and review discipline-specific safety guidelines.
As a core component of laboratory safety education, this examination system serves three key objectives: to enhance students’ safety awareness, build their emergency response capabilities, and strengthen their risk management skills in laboratory settings. Though successful completion of the training qualifies students for laboratory access, it marks merely the starting point of continuous safety education, one that extends across all their research activities.
Fire evacuation drill
Apart from implementing multiple preventive safety measures to mitigate accident risks, we have developed comprehensive emergency response plans to address unforeseen incidents including biosafety incidents, chemical spills, and fires.
College of Chemical and Biological Engineering has long attached great importance to fire safety education. We organize two annual fire safety drills every spring and autumn, with the active participation of hundreds of faculty members, staff, and students. These drills cover three core modules including building evacuation, fire suppression and safe room escape.
During the drills, all the faculty and students receive guidance on evacuation. We cover our mouths and noses with wet towels, maintain a low posture, and move in an orderly, rapid manner along emergency escape routes to the designated evacuation assembly area. Additionally, we learn and memorize the key "lift-pull-grip-press" sequence for fire extinguishing, practice to master fire suppression skills, and engage in simulated drills for power outages and dark environments inside the safe room. This immersive engagement significantly strengthens our retention of indoor escape techniques.
Figure 9. Students participated in the fire evacuation drill
Overall, these fire safety initiatives have effectively raised participants’ awareness of fire prevention and enhanced their self-rescue abilities.
References
[1] The State Council of the People's Republic of China. (2004). Regulations on the Biosafety Administration of Pathogenic Microorganism Laboratories (Order No. 424 of the State Council. Revised by the Decision of the State Council on Amending Some Administrative Regulations on February 6, 2016, March 19, 2018, and December 6, 2024).
[2] State Science and Technology Commission of the People's Republic of China. (1993). Safety Management of Genetic Engineering (Order No. 17 of the State Science and Technology Commission).
[3] Zhejiang University. (2022). Zhejiang University measures for rewards and accountability in laboratory safety work (Zheda Fashi [2022] No. 1).