[DIYbio] Re: London BioLab SOP documentation for GLP and CL1

Hi,

At the moment at our Lab at the London Hackspace we are working toward establishing containment level one (CL1) standards. Our plan is then to go through the official procedure of notification to the UK government department that we are carrying out CL1 genetic modification work.
In short CL1 GM work includes creating organisms transformed with non-pathological functional constructs but beyond the limit of 'self cloning'.

For the purpose of inducting people into our lab we've set up a basic SOP documentation system which importantly contains information on laboratory and project risk assessments and best practices for equipment and method use.
Understanding the risks and communicating them to lab users is the main purpose of this documentation but as is typical in industry this is worked into a formal documentation system.

Here's the wiki link to the current contents: https://wiki.london.hackspace.org.uk/view/BioLabSOPs

We plan to also have these available on github in HTML format so that others can get hold of them of possibly consider using them as a starting point for creating their own documentation system to the same ends and possibly useful to any start-up lab company.

It would also be great to get feedback from the rest of the DIYBio/Biohacking community on this, especially from others that have or are trying to get to CL1 (I think called S1 in parts of Europe) , for instance on how the regulations vary by country.

Those of you who have done much work in labs may well be familiar with such documentation systems and probably hate them (or maintain a healthy indifference), but to do certain important aspects of molecular/synthetic biology with any amount of publicity the regulations in question mean we sometimes have to start acting a bit more like an established entity and follow the rules.

Looking forward to any feedback :)

Sam
London BioHackspace