Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hello, my son was hoping to do the Biowarfare project with phages. The problem is that the school is not allowed to purchase the kit suggested in the materials section as it is restricted to those with the appropriate Level 2 clearance or permit (we live in Canada). Usually it is only university research facilities that might have this level of clearance. We live in a remote town so it is not an option for him to go to a university to do his project. He is very keen to do the project though and we were wondering what a workable workaround might be. I thought of a couple of other options but I am not sure if they are viable or not and would like some guidance if possible.
First option I thought of is to just culture some bacteria in his school lab in a dish that already has T4r in it and compare it to a petri dish that is only cultivating bacteria. Then determine if the T4r inhibits the growth of the bacteria. The science teacher says that we wouldn't be able to determine what the bacteria was. Does that matter? Would the T4r in the petri dish react to the bacteria in the same way as in the project outlined on this website? ie. would plaques develop as the T4r attacked the bacteria as it was growing. The science teacher said that we would not be able to ADD cultivated bacteria to the T4r after it had already grown (as per the procedure on this website) because their safety standards would not allow that. (Hence growing the bacteria in the petri dish with the T4r already in it - doesn't require manipulating the bacteria after the fact).
The second option is just to do the same procedure as outlined on this website but using a different strain of bacteria that we can get access to, namely a non-pathogenic bacteria. For instance, the Ward Science people said that the school could get Escherichia coli JM101 (Host) Tube Culture without needing a permit. Therefore, the same procedure but with this non-pathogenic bacteria. I am not even sure if this would work or if the phage would have any effect on it.
We would welcome any other ideas!
Please help us try an figure this out.
Thanks.

Hi,

In the U.S., E coli B or K12 do not require BSL2 handling conditions. Does Canada consider E coli B a potential human pathogen? It is a nonpathogenic strain according to the U.S. Public health Service and the American Type Culture Collection (http://www.atcc.org/products/all/11303.aspx) and can be handled under BSL1 conditions.

I did a search for JM101 as a host for T4 bacteriophage and could not find a clear yes or answer. If you absolutely cannot get permission to use strain B then I suggest you call Wards Scientific and ask them if they can substitute E coli JM101. T4 will only infect E coli so you cannot use any other species of bacteria.

Sybee