IDMIT renews its ISO 9001 certification: recognition of its teams’ commitment

Quality is a key issue for a preclinical research infrastructure. It relies not only on scientific and technical excellence, but also on process control, traceability and a continuous improvement approach.

Committed to this approach for several years, the IDMIT Department has once again had its quality management system certified in accordance with the international ISO 9001:2015 standard by LRQA. First obtained in July 2017, the certification has now been renewed for a further three-year period.

Certification at the core of IDMIT’s activities

The scope of the certification reflects the wide range of expertise developed within the Department. It covers research activities and preclinical services conducted in rodents and non-human primates in the field of infectious diseases and immune system disorders affecting humans.

It also includes the development of animal models used to investigate interactions between hosts and pathogens at different levels, from the molecular, cellular and tissue scales to the whole organism, in particular to assess new therapeutic compounds, vaccine strategies and countermeasures.

The certification also covers the management of IDMIT’s biobank, which brings together the biological samples generated during the studies and projects conducted within the infrastructure.

A continuous improvemen​t approach driven by the teams

Beyond the renewal of the certification itself, the audit report highlights several strengths of IDMIT’s quality management system. The auditors particularly noted the strong commitment of the new management team, as well as the teams’ excellent adoption of the principle of continuous improvement, including within the newly established research process.

They also highlighted the very effective interaction between the different processes, the teams’ responsiveness in identifying and implementing solutions, and their ability to continuously adapt and improve their practices.

Several concrete initiatives were commended, including improvements and standardisation of project and protocol monitoring tools, the development of skills management, the sharing of best practices between project managers, and the use of user feedback to improve training programmes.

Together, these elements demonstrate that a strong quality culture is now firmly embedded in IDMIT’s operations and is clearly focused on continuous improvement.

A collective and long-term commitment

Beyond the recognition provided by the certification itself, its renewal demonstrates that quality is firmly and sustainably embedded in the way IDMIT operates. Since its first ISO 9001 certification in 2017, the teams have maintained and implemented a quality management system on a daily basis to support and structure their activities.

In an environment combining research, the development of preclinical models, the evaluation of therapeutic and vaccine candidates, and the management of biological samples, this approach helps ensure the control and reproducibility of the processes being implemented.

The renewal of the certification through to 2029 therefore recognises the continuity of this approach and the collective, long-term commitment of IDMIT’s teams.

More broadly, this renewal fully reflects the importance that the Institute places on quality across the research ac​tivities conducted by its teams. This commitment helps ensure the robustness, traceability and reproducibility of their work, while supporting the continuous improvement of research practices.

The Institute congratulates the IDMIT teams and Anne-Sophie Gallouët, the Institute’s Quality Management Correspondent, on this achievement!