Transgenic Agreement

Michigan State University Plant Science Controlled Environment Facility

Standard Operating Procedure for Disposing of Plant Material

To comply with the new guidelines as it relates to the Facility as a Plant Biosafety Level 1, all users will need to read the following policy and agree to follow the instructions.  The Facility is required to maintain a record of your agreement.  Before anyone receives access to the Facility, we must have written or email consent indicating they have read and fully understand these new guidelines.  PI’s: Please forward this PDF to your lab members.  FYI: The Facility will not be able to contact every lab member that needs access making it vital this information is passed to them.  It’s imperative that we follow these guidelines to safely dispose of all modified plant material.

• All growth chamber rooms will be locked 24/7.
• Labs are responsible for bagging all plant material in designated drop off rooms with the provided autoclave bag. The bag must be securely tied.  These rooms will be monitored by surveillance cameras.
• Autoclave bags must have the lab name, person who bagged it, and phone number written clearly on the bag.
• Any unmarked bags left in the room will not be removed. The growth chamber facility personnel will work with EHS to determine the identity of the offending lab for unmarked autoclaved bags.  After three offenses the user will be turned over to EHS, with a recommendation that the user access to the facility be terminated.
• Facility personnel will pick-up the autoclave bags from the designated drop off rooms, Room 14 in Plant Biology and Room 400 in MPS.
• Facility will transport tied autoclave bags to the autoclave for sterilization and disposal.
• Building key card access will be facilitated by the primary departments in each building where growth chamber access is managed.

Facility will provide autoclave bags at each drop off room.  Step-by-step procedures will be clearly visible detailing which pots/trays to keep and which ones to dispose.  Trash containers will be provided to discard other non-plant material.  The Facility will also post signs stating that the two disposal rooms are monitored.