SAFETY

Safety in the Laboratory

All of our experiments are performed in the BSL1 laboratory. Our laboratory is equipped with emergency medicine kits, emergency showers, eye baths and other emergency measures to keep students safe.

Figure 1. Emergency medicine kits in the laboratory

At the same time, a contamination zone was set in the laboratory to conduct hazardous experiments like agarose electrophoresis for the safety of students. Considering that many microorganism experiments need to be conducted, aseptic techniques should be standardized. To avoid contamination, each culture medium is sterilized using high-pressure steam. Before the experiment, the ultra-clean bench will be disinfected by UV light for more than 30 minutes.

Figure 2. Ultra-clean bench in the laboratory

In parallel, all the compounds that are applied in our experiments and crucial for laboratory safety are put in the medical cabinets. We classified different types of compounds and made a list of them for better warning and selection. Also, regular inspections are done to ensure the quality of the compounds.

Figure 3.Medical cabinets in the laboratory

Furthermore, we strictly follow relevant laboratory rules and experiment protocols during the experiment. Everyone on the crew is required to wear gloves, masks, and lab coats. Eating and drinking in the lab are not permitted.

Figure 4. Formal experiment manipulation and wearing in the laboratory

Safety in Experiment

For biosafety reasons, we use E. coli DH5α and E. coli BL21(DE3), which are on the RRform whitelist. However, combined with the experimental design, since E. coli contains the cytosine deaminase (codA) gene which can produce CDase to affect the role of the dual module screening platform, we knocked out the codA gene by pCas9 on basis of E. coli BW25113 and obtained the E. coli BWΔCD for the construction of the mutant library.

Safety in Human Practice

Before entering the laboratory, all members have gone through a strict training and selection process by the lab supervisors; therefore, they have systematically learned and become well-versed in the lab's safety practices. In addition, the safety culture month activities carried out by Northeast Forestry University received positive responses from all members, including the laboratory safety knowledge PK competition and nine university leaders from Northeast Forestry University advocating laboratory safety. Overall, NEFU_China has deeply implemented the "Laboratory Safety Code for Higher Educational Institutions" and the "Code for the Management of Fire Safety in Laboratories of Higher Educational Institutions", both are published by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China.

Figure 5. Laboratory safety knowledge PK competition

Figure 6. Nine university leaders from NEFU advocating laboratory safety