Question: do you wear special suits while doing experiments

Asked by jbhiss2000 to Cindy, Katelin, Kate, Miranda, Yagiz on 10 Mar 2013.

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  1. Photo: Miranda WeenMiranda Ween
    answered on 10 Mar 2013:

    What a great question! Safety always has to come first, so depending on what type of work you do, is what kind of safety gear you need. I work on bacteria which can make people sick, so I work in a PC2 lab. This means we have to be careful about what/who comes in and out of the lab. It also means we need to wear gloves, special water resistant labcoats, and often safety glasses as well. If I have to handle liquid nitrogen, I need to wear special gloves and a faceshiled as well as a labcoat. If I went to where they keep the animals, I’d have to wear special shoes and a gown, to stop anything getting in to the animals. My lab, also currently contains a PC3 lab, which is a higher level than PC2. Thankfully no one at our uni works on anything dangerous enough for PC3 (like live SARS, ebola, hepatitis virii) so it is not a fully operational PC3, and the airlock is turne off, but as there is only one other PC3 lab in south Australia, should that break down, or we need another, it could quickly be returned to PC3 status, and that would require much more extensive safety gear.

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  2. Photo: Kate SkulteKate Skulte
    answered on 11 Mar 2013:

    Hi jbhiss2000! The sort of work I do doesn’t require special suits, but there are a lot of strict rules about clothing. I have to wear closed in shoes, a lab coat and safety goggles. When I work with UV light I need to wear a special shield over my head so I don’t get burned. The most important piece of safety equipment for me is gloves. When working wsith RNA and DNA its easy to get it contaminated. There are also enzymes on our skin that can break down DNA so I could potentially lose whats in my experiments! Because of this I always need to wear gloves and change them frequently depending on what I have to touch in the lab.

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  3. Photo: Yagiz "Biohacker" Alp AksoyYagiz "Biohacker" Alp Aksoy
    answered on 13 Mar 2013:

    I don’t wear a “special suit” but I feel myself very special in my ordinary labcoat 🙂
    Well, if you are working with an extremely dangerous organism (like Miranda suggested) you must wear an extra protective equipment. People working on radioactive elements wear suits that resemble alien costumes used in old movies.

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