Our iGEM team is using E. Coli ( the K-12 strain) as our bacteria for testing. In humans, E. Coli is isolated in the intestines where it helps with digestive process; however, when ingested or inhaled, E. Coli can make you very sick and, in some cases, cause hemolytic uremic syndrome, a severe form of kidney failure. To prevent this outcome, many lab safety techniques and guidelines are used.
Before dealing with the E. coli, students will watch their hands thoroughly with water and soap. Afterwards, the students will put on their gloves, goggles, and lab coats. Before we can experiment with E. Coli, we must grow it. The first step of growing bacteria is sterilizing all equipment that will be used which includes pipettes and petri dishes. We also place the petri dishes in autoclaves to ensure that all other microorganisms are eliminated.
Afterwards, we sterilize a test tube with alcohol and then fill it with heated agar, which we pour into the petri dish. For inoculation we sterilize the inoculating loop with bleach and then heat it. We then use the inoculating loop to extract E. Coli from another dish and place it into the agar petri dish using the streaking method. We streak the agar petri dish multiple times with the inoculating loop, heating, sterilizing, and picking up more E. Coli each time. Then we will take the bacteria and incubate it in an incubator. After dealing with the E. coli the students will take their gloves and throw them away into a special bin for gloves and wash their hands thoroughly again.
In the lab we have fire extinguisher, fire alarm activators, and fire blankets dispersed around for easy access in case of a fire. In addition, if students accidentally get dangerous chemicals in their eyes or on their bodies, they can run to a shower where multiple gallons of water will be dumped on the student while water is sprayed into the students eyes.