From: Margaret Rakas <mrakas**At_Symbol_Here**SMITH.EDU>
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Biosafety guide suggestions?
Date: Wed, 22 Jun 2016 10:12:29 -0400
Reply-To: DCHAS-L <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**MED.CORNELL.EDU>
Message-ID: CAAszpkznzeMD2DLOj+_EX2zQ+t9-zX-yYoZH+7BX=mPM6-f3nw**At_Symbol_Here**mail.gmail.com
In-Reply-To <6379DCE4-9C70-4977-A873-DFCA2CB228DA**At_Symbol_Here**keene.edu>


Ralph--

If you find any undergraduate student-oriented guidelines/explanations, I would love to have a copy. I have never seen anything that fits what you're looking for--they may be on department websites rather than EHS sties--or you may need to create your own.

Given the complexity of regulations around SOME (certainly not all!) synthetic nucleic acids and other advances (CRISPR, anyone?) I would say that faculty are the ones who need to be aware of these issues, rather than students. I would not expect undergrads to be able to recognize when they are close to or over the BSL-2 line on these types of biological experiments. Goodness knows it is hard enough to get Ph.D's to be aware, sometimes...

My two cents...
MR

On Wed, Jun 22, 2016 at 9:53 AM, Stuart, Ralph <Ralph.Stuart**At_Symbol_Here**keene.edu> wrote:
>> Our students who perform BSL-2 research (which requires an approved protocol from our IBC, whether or not rDNA is involved) are required to read the appropriate sections of the BMBL, which is pretty much the biosafety bible.

Our biology students don't do BSL-2 work, but work with a variety of BSL 1 biohazards and this type of work is beginning to creep into our chemistry department. But I would like to educate them on what the differences between BSL 1 and 2 are so that they can recognize when they are getting close to that line. Reading BMBL without this context is a bit of a challenge. The ASM Teaching Lab biosafety guidelines appear more approachable, but still assume that the line between BSL 1 and 2 is clear, which may not be the case for synthetic nucleic acids or other novel uses of biological materials.. I also find lists of, for example, 22 standard practices to be hard to absorb. 20 year old minds might be more nimble in this regard...

I guess I was thinking in terms more in the story-based, bite-sized approach if Finster and Hill for chemical safety.

Thanks for the links.

- Ralph

Ralph Stuart, CIH, CCHO
Chemical Hygiene Officer
Keene State College

ralph.stuart**At_Symbol_Here**keene.edu



--
Margaret A. Rakas, Ph.D.
Manager, Inventory & Regulatory Affairs
Clark Science Center
413-585-3877 (p)

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