The KAUST Core Labs & Research Infrastructure proudly announces the expansion of its ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation. The Lab Equipment Maintenance (LEM) Core Lab has been accredited by the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA) to perform calibrations for mass (balances) and volume (pipettes). LEM is the second Core Lab receiving this accreditation, after the Coastal and Marine Resources Core Lab (CMR).
ISO/IEC 17025 defines the minimum requirements for certification of testing and calibration, including both the technical requirements and the creation of a management system.
“By achieving this international accreditation, the laboratory provides increased confidence to its users regarding the reliability, credibility, and traceability of its calibrations; it is essential for every research laboratory,” explained Ioannis Georgakakis, the quality specialist at the Core Labs involved in this effort.
Also contributing were Mohammed Shakir, director of the LEM, George Klein, its biosciences lead, and engineer Abel Cortada Galvao.
The process took approximately a year, a time period expedited by the experience learned by CMR. KAUST is the only university in Saudi Arabia that is A2LA accredited (certificate numbers 5001.01 and 5001.02).
“This project started based on requests from users and our commitment to provide the highest quality of service. We were lucky to have amazing talent in the Core Labs in the area of quality management, especifically Ioannis. Ioannis' expertise and hard work from the LEM team, especially the Biological Technologies unit led by George, was crucial to achieving this certification,” said Shakir.