XMet
The XMet project, funded under the European Partnership on Metrology (METPART), aims to strengthen pandemic preparedness and routine infectious disease management by providing robust measurement systems that improve confidence in diagnostic results and support compliance with the EU In Vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices Regulation (IVDR).
About the project
The XMET (Metrology to ensure rapid and accurate diagnostic response to current and emerging infectious diseases) project arose from recognition that infectious disease diagnostics are critical for public health, but are often not supported by the measurement standards and traceability infrastructure routinely applied in other areas of laboratory medicine.
COVID-19 revealed that while diagnostic testing is a cornerstone of pandemic response, many tests lacked the traceability, standardisation and quality assurance needed to confidently assess their accuracy. XMET brings together metrology institutes, regulators, clinical laboratories and other stakeholders to address this gap and strengthen preparedness for future epidemics and pandemics.
The project aims to develop the metrological infrastructure to support bioanalytical in vitro diagnostic (IVD) tests including nucleic acid and antigen-based assays. Using influenza, mpox and tuberculosis as model diseases, XMET will establish SI-traceable reference measurement procedures and reference materials, develop calibration hierarchies and diagnostic evaluation frameworks, support external quality assessment and regulatory implementation, and create guidance for manufacturers, regulators and clinical laboratories.
By providing robust measurement systems that improve confidence in diagnostic results and support compliance with the EU IVDR, the project aims to strengthen pandemic preparedness and routine infectious disease management, ultimately enabling more reliable public health decision-making and faster responses to emerging disease threats.
The consortium
- NML at LGC, UK (Project Lead)
- Laboratoire national de métrologie et d’essais (LNE), France
- Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), UK
- Nacionalni Institut za Biologijo (NIB), Slovenia
- NPL Management Limited (NPL), UK
- RISE Research Institutes of Sweden AB (RISE), Sweden
- Türkiye Bilimsel ve Teknolojik Araştırma Kurumu (TÜBİTAK), Türkiye
- Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU), Israel
- Barts Health NHS Trust (BH), UK
- Commissariat à l’énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA), France
- GBD Gesellschaft für biotechnologische Diagnostik mbH (GBD), Germany
- Insightful Health Ltd (IH), UK
- INSTAND e.V., Germany
- Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS), Republic of Korea
- Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (LSTM), UK
- mib Dienstleistung GmbH (MIB), Germany
- Österreichische Gesellschaft für Qualitätssicherung und Standardisierung medizinisch-diagnostischer Untersuchungen (ÖQUASTA), Austria
- Institut Pasteur (Pasteur), France
- Paul-Ehrlich-Institut (PEI), Germany
- Uniwersytet Mikołaja Kopernika (UMK), Poland
- Instituto Nacional de Metrología (INM CO), Colombia
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or EURAMET. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
The project has received funding from the European Partnership on Metrology, co-financed from the European Union’s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme and by the Participating States.
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