Course

Preamble

The recent advances in the field of biotechnology/biomedical technologies have brought into focus several safety and ethical issues. The inventions in the field of genetic engineering, molecular medicine and related fields of molecular biology not only affect us but also the plants, microorganisms, animals and the entire environment and the way we practice agriculture, medicine and food processing. The present course focuses on the biosafety issues the modern society confronts. Topics such as biosafety levels, biosafety guidelines, biomedical technologies, its health and human rights perspectives, emerging trends in biomedical and genetic technologies and regulatory frameworks will be discussed in the curriculum.

Unit 1

General laboratory practice; Biosafety and biohazards: Introduction to biological safety cabinets, primary containment for biohazards, biosafety levels of non-pathogenic and infectious agents; Biowaste disposal; Biohazard spills

Definition of genetic modified organism (GMOs) and living modified organisms (LMOs): Roles of institutional biosafety committee; GM-food debate and biosafety assessment procedures for biotech foods and related products, including transgenic food crops, case studies of relevance; Biosafety assessment of pharmaceutical products such as drugs/vaccines etc.</p

Unit 2

Chemical hazards and safety: Identify hazards and assess the risk; MSDS; Chemical Storage; Chemical Spills; Handling and Transportation of Chemicals; Waste segregation and disposal; handling chemicals in Fume hoods

Unit 3

Fire Safety; Relevance; Reporting of accidents, first aids, fire instructions and other emergencies

Unit 4

Demonstration of Fire safety; Chemical safety and Life Support Skills

Course outcome (CO)

CO1: Understanding the importance of biohazards and the safety related to their handling and disposal

CO2: Understand the safety related to handling of genetic modified organism and living modified organisms

CO3: Understand the safety related to their handling and disposal of chemical hazards

CO4: Significance of fire safety and other emergencies

Program outcome (PO)

PO1: Bioscience Knowledge

PO2: Problem Analysis

PO3: Design/Development of Solutions

PO4: Conduct Investigations of complex problems

PO5: Modern tools usage

PO6: Bioscientist and Society

PO7: Environment and Sustainability

PO8: Ethics

PO9: Individual & Team work

PO10: Communication

PO11: Project management & Finance

PO12: Lifelong learning

3 = High Affinity, 2 = Medium Affinity, 1 = Low Affinity, – = No Affinity

Program Specific Outcome (PSO)

PSO 1 – Chemical and physical basis of biology

PSO 2 – Computational science in biology and medicine

PSO 3 – Biochemical and physiological complexity in biology and medicine

PSO 4 – Molecular technology in biology and medicine

PSO 5 – Cell based approaches in diagnosis and therapy

PSO 6 – Microorganisms in medicine

PSO 7 – Nanoscale entities and its significance in medicine

PSO 8 – Tissue architecture engineering in medicine

PSO 9 – Compounds as drugs and its efficacy

PSO 10 – Bioinformatics and artificial intelligence in medicine

PSO 11 – Technology in personalizing medicine

PSO 12 – Protein structural complexity in medicine

PSO 13 – Projecting science and medicine to public

(1) Bioethics and Biosafety, 1st edition (2008), M. K Sateesh, I K International Pvt Ltd, ISBN-13: 978-8190675703.

(2) BIOSAFETY MANUAL FOR PUBLIC HEALTH LABORATORIES, Ministry of Health, Government of India.

(3) Biological Safety, Principles and Practices, 4th edition, Editors:

Diane O. Fleming and Debra L. Hunt