Six years of public-private collaboration within ERA4TB have resulted in a lasting scientific and organisational capability at the University of Zaragoza (Spain), where the Antimicrobials Unit has achieved ISO9001:2015 certification for its quality management system supporting preclinical antimicrobial testing.
As ERA4TB approaches its conclusion on 31 December 2026, an important question is what will remain after the project itself ends. At the University of Zaragoza (UNIZAR) in Spain, part of that legacy is already visible: trained personnel, standardised experimental capabilities, documented knowledge and a quality management system that will remain beyond the project.
The Antimicrobials Unit of the Mycobacterial Genetics Group has obtained ISO 9001:2015 certification, issued by SGS International Certification Services Iberica, S.A. under ENAC accreditation.
The certified scope covers “in vitro preclinical assays for antimicrobial development in the biomedical, pharmaceutical and academic sectors”, for an ample array of antimicrobial susceptibility testing performed in BSL-2 and BSL-3 laboratories
A public-private partnership that changed how research is organised
ERA4TB brought together more than 30 organisations from academia and industry around a shared goal: accelerating the development of new tuberculosis treatments.
For the UNIZAR team, participating in this environment required adapting to shared governance, defined responsibilities, timelines, harmonised protocols, data-management procedures and continuous scientific discussion with partners from different organisational cultures and disciplines.
This interaction progressively transformed the team’s internal way of working, reinforcing documentation, traceability and the transfer of experimental knowledge across team members.
At the same time, the collaboration combined complementary strengths. Industry partners contributed access to drug candidates, development expertise, resources and a direct connection with the translational and regulatory context. Academic partners contributed specialised infrastructure, experimental expertise, methodological
implementation and critical scientific evaluation. ERA4TB provided the framework in which these capabilities could operate together.
Building capabilities that survive the project
During ERA4TB, the UNIZAR team consolidated preclinical antimicrobial testing across different levels of complexity, including standardised MIC determination, high-throughput time kill assays, and dynamic PK/PD experimental system such as the Hollow Fibre System.
For the more complex methodologies, the team identified critical variables, documented workflows and train several researchers and technicians so that the expertise became an institutional capability rather than knowledge dependent on a single operator.
The ISO9001 certification formalises this evolution into a quality management system designed to support reproducible, traceable and continuously improved procedures.
