#biosafety

[sacrilegiate]

⠳⣄⣀⣠⠞✿͙⢷. 💧 ▍. #HERIDAS.𝗠𝗣𝟯 🌊❀ ˚̣̣

[wikipediapictures]

RT-PCR Lab EMC

“Biocabinet of the RT-PCR lab setup in Government Medical College Ernakulam for testing Covid 19 infection.” - via Wikimedia Commons

[sxpxrmxrgxr]

[eternalistic]

U.S.-Funded Scientist Among Three Chinese Researchers Who Fell Ill Amid Early Covid-19 Outbreak

The identification of the researchers linked to the Wuhan Institute of Virology is fueling suspicion for proponents of the lab-leak theory.

See full article at archive.is “Ben Hu, a scientist at the Wuhan Institute of Virology who had done  extensive laboratory research on how coronaviruses infect humans, was identified in U.S. intelligence reports as one of the researchers who became ill in November 2019 with symptoms that American officials said were consistent with either Covid-19 or a seasonal illness. None of the researchers died.” “The Federal Bureau of Investigation has assessed with moderate confidence that a lab leak was the most likely origin of the virus and the Energy Department came to a similar conclusion with low confidence. Four other U.S. intelligence agencies assess with low confidence that the virus arose naturally, while the Central Intelligence Agency has been agnostic.“ “The U.S. intelligence community is planning to declassify more information regarding its search for Covid’s origins as soon as this week, under a law that Congress passed and President Biden signed in March. It couldn’t be determined if the declassified intelligence would include the names of the researchers, and representatives for the director of national intelligence declined to comment.” “Hu is noteworthy, current and former officials say, because of his central role in coronavirus research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Further, some of the projects he worked on were funded by U.S. government grants, according to documents acquired through the Freedom of Information Act by the White Coat Waste Project, a nonprofit that opposes taxpayer funded research on animals.“ “The Government Accountability Office noted in a report last week that some of the research at the Wuhan Institute was funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development and the National Institutes of Health. Between 2014 and 2019, about $1.4 million was disbursed for work at the institute by both agencies before such grants were suspended.”

[vaticinatrix]

ah yes the four biosafety levels:

1: if you get sick from this, you're a weapons-grade dumbass and it's almost impressive

2: you can get sick from this, but you'd still have to fuck something up seriously

3: honestly pretty risky, but with proper procedures, there's no reason to be scared

4: honestly, you should be scared

[ghostiddie]

[starting-today-you-are-a-writer]

How to Write Scientists: Biosafety Level part 1

So, you have a scientific character or a lab and you’re not an expert in science. First thing I would do is look up biosafety levels to get a quick feel. Now some tips (but only for levels 1 and some 2 don’t listen to me about higher levels)

1. What the Biosafety Should be vs what it is (Level 1/2)

The biggest thing is that labs do not always follow the rules. It’s important to remember that some rules themselves are “do this only when necessary” like with personal protective equipment. So, sometimes it’s because the rules don’t apply, or sometimes it’s because concerns conflict and sometimes, people are just sure that they’re special and won’t die.

Lab Coats

Are there to protect your clothes. Also so you don’t carry anything from in the lab, outside the lab. Ideally, you should always wear them. In biosafety one labs, you aren’t required to always wear them but in biosafety two labs, you are. But if you’re not working with anything that will immediately burn/harm you, a lot of people will forgo them, even in biosafety 2 (though in 1 its 95% and in 2 it’s more like 10%). Lab coats don’t protect the samples they protect you. This means if people don’t think it’s dangerous, they don’t wear a lab coat. 

Ex. 

1)You’re at the microscope in a lab looking at something, but while lab work with chemicals and other things is going on, you’re just at the scope. Do you wear a lab coat? In a level lab one lab, probably not. You’re not dealing with anything harmful or in a position where it will get on your clothes. If you came to the lab for just scope work, you’re not in a lab coat. In a level two lab you should where a lab still, because there might be traces of things on the scopes (from people touching the scopes with gloves coated with stuff!) you should where a lab coat. But then again, in a level 2 lab, you aren’t working with stuff that should harm a healthy person, so a lot of people don’t, I say a lot to mean “more than should be breaking the rules” but again, in 1 it’s 95% in 2 it’s 10% from my experience.

2)You’re pouring HCL, a strong acid, but it’s dilute and you’re right by the sink. If it’s quick and you don’t think you’ll spill it, and might skip the coat. BUT if someone before you was working with something harmful, or cell cultures, or anything that is harmful to you immediately. You’ll wear it.

3) Autoclave, if you’re retrieving anything from an autoclave or anything that is hot and boiling than you’ll wear a lab coat. Burning liquid will hurt you. Having a coat on top will help.

Gloves 

Gloves are for two purposes. One, to protect your hands. Two, to protect whatever you’re working with from your hands. So if you’re working with something that can hurt you or be contaminated, you where them.

 If you’re working with something that can’t be contaminated (bleach, HCL) but that can hurt you, you should probably wear gloves. Usually, people do (though anyone who has a very relax, trust me I know what I’m doing might not wear them). 

If you working with something harmless but can be contaminated, whether you wear gloves depends on how sterile the environment is. If you are near a flame and work in a level 1 lab, you might not wear gloves at all, since an untrained person could set they’re gloves on fire and burn their hands, whereas, before their hands were not in danger. However, in a level two lab, where things might not harm you, but could harm someone else, where even if the things you’re working on aren’t harmless, the person before you might, you’d wear your gloves. 

Ex. You’re at the scope looking at sealed plates of yeast. The yeast is harmless. Gloves? No. 

You’re working with petri dishes of harmless bacteria. You’re job is to open the lid and dab the centre of the bacteria with a toothpick and transfer the toothpick to a tube to grow a colony. Gloves? It depends, but yes. If you’re opening the lid near a flame, and the air is sterile, you might not need gloves (the bacteria will be safe) but you shouldn’t be touching the toothpick with your bare hands if the toothpick is going to go into a new culture, the bacteria on your hands will get onto the toothpick.

You’re pipetting various liquids close to a flame. The liquids are harmless. Gloves? Maybe, probably not.

Googles 

Googles are to protect your eyes, but unless you work in a chem lab, you’re probably not wearing them. In general googles protect against fumes, eye irritants and things splashing in your eyes, but people in bio labs aren’t usually wearing them.

There are a few reasons for this. The first is bio safety labs in lower levels usually aren’t working with things that are very airborne (otherwise they’d have higher levels) and if they are they’re usually working in a fumehood, and even then, it’s usually not that harmful. For the unaware, a fumehood is a cabinet with it’s own air current so the air is contained in there. There are a very types of cabinet, some to protect just the product inside, some to protect you, some to protect both. But in general, many bio labs (Depending on what they’re doing and how much chemistry and cell culture is involved) don’t have a lot of work done in fumehoods (a lot of labs just use fumehoods for storing chemicals, and diluting the chemicals so they can work safely with them in normal environments). 

This in bio labs aren’t usually explosive, so you don’t have to worry about things hitting your eye. The exception is something bubbling or boiling, where it’s safer to where to googles.

Googles are a weird thing because I rarely see people where them, but I’m also aware that when they are worn, it’s of vital important to your safety, unlike lab coats that might just be worn so you don’t wreck your favourite T-shirt.

Eating

YOU SHOULD NOT EAT IN YOUR LAB!!! Even if you’re only eating in the scope section, or by the computers in the front where no one ever does experiments, people will touch the scopes and computers with their contaminated hands. But people do all the time. ALL the time. Someone even told me the kept a box of cookies by their lab desk. In biosfaety two I think people are more careful about it, but biosafety one labs, even if people are usually like “guys, we need to stop eating in the labs” they’ll do it. If you walk into your lab and see a box of doughnuts, c’mon, someone brought them in, a lot of people are eating them, of course you’re going to eat them. YOU PI had one! 

Plants and animals 

Lots of labs have plants and animals but these have to be clearer by the biosafety inspector. One lab I know had a lab goldfish. BUT the inspector will usually only clear something under specific circumstances. For instance, the lab said the gold fish had to be on a beaker on a desk (away from the experiments.) Knowing that wasn’t a good home for a fish they upgraded to a tank without asking the inspector. Plant watering cans must only be for plants. The fish was in a Biosafety 2 lab, for reference.

Final notes

As much as you want everyone to follow biosafety guidelines, I think it’s important to know that a lot of people don’t. Especially if they don’t think they’re being harmed. People will check their phones with their gloves on (getting acid on their phones!) even in biosafety 2 labs. Even after certified training. 

And sometimes people forget things, especially when they get used to not being in danger. I once accidentally reached across a fire and burnt some of my arm hair off in undergrad because I forgot the flame was there. 

If you’re writing in a lab setting, or there’s an appearance in a lab, keep this in mind. Especially if it’s any place young undergrads or grad students or post-docs might be. 

***Also all my experience is with university lab so many private industry is better in some regard but hospitals and such, not so much.

[sacrilegiate]

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