What is biosafety?

Biosafety guidelines evolved as a protection for laboratorians in the field of microbiology to understand the risks associated with various manipulations of agents transmissible by different routes. Different biosafety levels provide increasing attention to personnel and environmental protection.

There is a definite hierarchy of controls that need to be in effect. Upper level management must set the general tone that safety is a high priority. Crucial to safe working conditions are the various types of specialized equipment available to serve as primary barriers between the hazard and the laboratorian. These range from simple gloves and other personnel protective equipment to simple (sealed centrifuge heads) or complex (biosafety cabinets) containment devices.

Biosafety and Bologna Team Project:

Synthetic Biology is developing as one of the most exciting area of scientific discovery, but research has shown that the public is almost completely unaware of its applications.
Considering the technical nature of this area, there are many possible questions about the implications arising from its applications. All these questions are considered by Synthetic Biology which tries to use in a conscious and responsible way its techniques and promotes the objective of its studies transparently.

We decided to realize an Information Booklet explaining to people, even those that do not possess special knowledge in the Synthetic Biology field, what the 2009 Bologna Igem Team project is about. We distributed these booklets to students of the University of Bologna in order to collect their opinions and considerations once they have been informed in a few words on the basic concepts of Synthetic Biology.

In order to gather up these data we thought that may be useful to prepare a Survey and submit it to other students and friends, trying to “measure” the mistrust that those people can feel about our project and Synthetic Biology in general. If a large variety of people will answer to our questions, we could be reasonably sure that our data are indicative of the impact of our project on the public opinion.

Click on the following links to check the Information Booklet and the questionnaire:

Here the Results of Survey: