MACRAMÉ – Advanced characterisation methodologies to assess and predict the health and environmental risks of advanced materials

Ensuring the safety and sustainability of advanced materials (AdMas) is critical for fostering innovation while protecting human health and the environment. As industries integrate AdMas into commercial products to innovate in the next stage of the value chains, there is an urgent need for robust methodologies to detect, characterize, and assess their potential risks throughout their life cycle. The MACRAMÉ Project addresses this challenge by advancing standardized testing and regulatory frameworks, supporting the EU's vision for a toxic-free environment. Through cutting-edge research and international collaboration, MACRAMÉ lays the groundwork for reliable hazard assessment, regulatory compliance, and the responsible development of next-generation materials. The MACRAMÉ Project aims to enhance the detection, characterization, and quantification of Advanced Materials (AdMas) throughout their life cycle, assessing potential human and environmental health impacts during exposure. By developing, demonstrating, and standardizing advanced methodologies, MACRAMÉ ensures their broad applicability across market-relevant AdMas-containing products. Fully aligned with EU strategies such as the Chemical Strategy for Sustainability and the European Green Deal, the project extends nanosafety approaches to the broader AdMas category, focusing on inhalable carbon-based materials - graphene-related materials, carbon nanofibers, and poly lactic-co-glycolic acid nanoparticles. Building on over 15 years of research, MACRAMÉ integrates knowledge from major European and international initiatives to establish harmonized test guidelines, guidance documents, and standards. Through five industrial Use-Cases, the project applies innovative sample preparation, detection, and toxicity assessment techniques to develop a tiered approach for AdMa safety testing. Centralized in the MACRAMÉ Information Hub, all data will support regulatory frameworks and future research. The project's outcomes - harmonization and pre-standardization proposals - will contribute to a unified European assessment framework, reinforcing the continent's leadership in safe and sustainable materials innovation.