ASM Guidelines for Biosafety in Teaching Laboratories
Biosafety Guidelines AppendixBiosafety for at-Home or DIY Microbiology Lab Kits
One of the many hats that educators must wear is to prevent the inadvertent passage of microbes out of the teaching laboratory by a student or assistant. To ensure safety, you need to train your students/assistants and continually assess the hazards of working with microorganisms in all situations. It is also important to follow best practices for safe handling, containment and disposal of microorganisms.
The ASM Biosafety Guidelines provide educators with a consistent way to safely work with microorganisms in the classroom and to further prevent the spread of microorganisms. The biosafety guidelines are for teaching labs that use only BSL-1 and BSL-2 organisms.
An addendum for biosafety considerations regarding at-home or DIY microbiology lab kits is provided for microbiology laboratory instructors who are considering teaching remote undergraduate microbiology labs.
The guidelines contain requirements on these topics:
- Risk assessment
- Personal protection
- Laboratory physical space
- Stock cultures
- Standard laboratory practices
- Training
- Documents
- Service animals
Contact Information
ASM Education, education@asmusa.org