Biosafety Flashcards
What is biosafety
Measures to prevent exposure to (potentially) infectious agents
What defines biosafety?
Containment conditions and operational procedures to reduce the potential exposure
Which organisms do we have to look out for when considering biosafety?
Micro-organisms that can cause disease and their genetically modified variants
How are micro-organisms classified?
- Pathogenicity (before/after genetic modification)
- Severity of disease
- Change of spreading into the environment
- Availability of profylaxe or treatment
What are charcteristics of the different classes?
ZIE schema
What are examples of micro-organisms in class I?
- Yeast
- E coli K12
What are examples of micro-organisms in class II?
- HBV
- Measles
- Salmonella
- Legionella
What are examples of micro-organisms in class III?
- Tuberculosis
- SARS-CoV-2
- Influenza
- HIV
What are examples of micro-organisms in class IV?
- Lassa
- Ebola
- Marburg
Characteristics of GMOs (2)
- Genetic composition has been changed artificially
- The ability to replicate or transfer their genomic material
How do you investigate the function of a certain gene?
- Inactivation (KO)
- Overexpression
- Mutation
- Track, trace, measure a gene/protein
Specific risks of GMOs (2)
- Disturbance of natural balance when introduced into the environment
- Transfer of genetically modified material to non-GMO’s
Which viral experiments can you perform in BSL-1? Which adjustments need to be done?
- Cloning in plasmids
- Transformation in competent cells
Which viral experiments can you perform in BSL-2? Which adjustments need to be done?
- Transfection of cells for the production of recombinant virus (reverse genetics) –> only ‘‘6 + 2 viruses
- Remove multi basis cleavage site
Which viral experiments can you perform in BSL-3? Which adjustments need to be done?
- Transfection of cells for the production of recombinant virus “full 8 gene segments”
- With MBCS
- No 1918 Spanish Influenza
How is a multi-basis cleavage site formed? What change does this lead to?
Insertions of nucleotides in HA gene –> virus becomes highly pathogenic
How do the insertions of nucleotides lead to a highly pathogenic influenza virus?
Insertions are recognized by burin-like proteases –> sequence can be cleaved anywhere and replicates anywhere
Why do you have to remove the multi-basis cleavage site to work in BSL-2 ?
Too pathogenic
Dual Use Research of Concern
