Cytiva and San Raffaele Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy launch collaboration to advance next-generation genomic medicine platforms

March 23, 2026

• New “Danaher Beacon,” first in the European Union, aims to accelerate translation, scalability, and reliability across cell and gene therapy workflows
• Focus is on lentiviral gene transfer and targeted gene editing of hematopoietic stem cells

Cytiva, a Danaher company and a leader in the life sciences industry, together with the San Raffaele Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy (SR TIGET), launched a new collaboration to advance next generation genomic medicine platforms. Established under Danaher Beacons—long term strategic research collaborations between Danaher companies and world class academic institutions—the initiative aims to help researchers and developers address some of the most persistent bottlenecks in cell and gene therapy, targeting high-impact areas where even small gains can meaningfully help move from discovery to delivery faster.

SR-TIGET – a joint venture between Ospedale San Raffaele and Fondazione Telethon, an Italian non-profit organization committed to advancing research for rare genetic diseases – aims to expand access to innovative tools for translational researchers who want to scale promising genomic technologies faster and more reliably. The new collaboration will combine the scientific leadership of SR-TIGET with Cytiva’s manufacturing expertise, spanning process development through commercialization, with additional partnership from two other Danaher companies, Aldevron and Integrated DNA Technologies (IDT). It will operate under the umbrella of Danaher Beacons, long-term, strategic research collaborations between Danaher companies and world-class academic institutions. SR-TIGET is currently the only research center in the European Union designated as a Danaher Beacon.

Fondazione Telethon recently became the first non-profit to bring a gene therapy to market in the United States. The new initiative is similarly aligned with the organization’s commitment to fostering collaborations that help overcome scientific, technological and economic barriers to help make breakthrough advanced therapies more sustainable and accessible to patients.

Scientific excellence throughout the workflow

Professor Luigi Naldini, MD, PhD and Director of SR-TIGET says: “For more than two decades, we have advanced gene therapies based on hematopoietic stem cells. Today SR-TIGET is recognized as a global leader in the field with the number of patients treated and diseases addressed, as well as of products approved for the EU and/or US market. More importantly, these treatments have been safe and truly transformative for our patients. The next challenge is to ensure that the new therapies that we are developing together with Fondazione Telethon can be brought to clinical testing and delivered to patients in a more robust, scalable, and economically sustainable way than is currently possible. Through this collaboration, we aim to combine our scientific expertise with Cytiva’s technologies to help make that possible.”

Daria Donati, Chief Scientific Officer for Genomic Medicine at Cytiva, says: “Together, Danaher and SR-TIGET share a clear ambition: to accelerate the translation of promising genomic technologies into therapies that can be delivered reliably, reproducibly, and at scale. The Beacon reflects a long-term commitment to building the foundational platforms required for genomic medicine to fulfill its promise—not just in pioneering trials, but for patients worldwide.”

Why this matters

As more cell and gene therapies move into clinical pipelines, with 2,130 clinical trials in progress in 2025¹ alone, developers face increasing pressure to optimize processes, improve consistency, reduce costs, and accelerate timelines. The Cytiva-SR-TIGET initiative will prioritize high impact areas where even modest advances can meaningfully accelerate translation and improve manufacturability – in particular the optimization of lentiviral vector production and advancement of homology-directed repair-based gene editing in hematopoietic stem cells, with a focus on automation of cell manipulation and process improvement.

The work will extend for several years as part of Cytiva’s broader effort to strengthen its genomic medicine portfolio and support innovators across the biotech ecosystem.

Cytiva, Sefia, and the drop logo are trademarks of Global Life Sciences Solutions USA LLC or an affiliate doing business as Cytiva.

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¹Alliance for Regnerative Medicines’s Q4 2025 Sector Snapshot

Media contact:

Colleen Connolly
Colleen.connolly@cytiva.com
+1 774 245 3893

About SR-TIGET

Based in Milan, the San Raffaele Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy (SR-TIGET) is a joint venture between Ospedale San Raffaele and Fondazione Telethon, established in 1996 to advance gene and cell therapy from scientific discovery to clinical application. SR-TIGET is recognized as a global leader in hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) gene therapy for genetic diseases, having treated approximately one quarter of all patients worldwide who have received this type of treatment. To date, three HSC-based gene therapies developed at SR-TIGET have reached the market — all three in the European Union and two also in the United States.

About Fondazione Telethon

Fondazione Telethon is a leading Italian biomedical foundation committed to advancing innovative therapies for rare genetic diseases through scientific excellence and strategic collaboration. Established in 1990, the Foundation supports the full research continuum — from discovery to clinical translation — and partners with academic institutions, healthcare systems and industry to enable the development, manufacturing and delivery of advanced therapies. Research supported by Fondazione Telethon has led to three gene therapies reaching the market in Europe, two of which are also approved in the United States.
https://www.fondazionetelethon.it/en

About Cytiva

At Cytiva, a Danaher company, our mission is to advance and accelerate the development of therapeutics. With 15,000 associates in more than 40 countries, we’re driven to use our expertise and talent to achieve better flexibility, capacity, and efficiency for our customers. Our broad and deep portfolio of tools and technologies, global scale, and best-in-class service provides critical support from discovery to delivery, for customers spanning researchers, emerging biotech, large-scale biopharma and contract manufacturers. Learn more at cytiva.com.

About Danaher

Danaher is a leading global life sciences and diagnostics innovator, committed to accelerating the power of science and technology to improve human health. Our businesses partners closely with customers to solve many of the most important health challenges impacting patients around the world. Danaher's advanced science and technology - and proven ability to innovate - help enable faster, more accurate diagnoses and help reduce the time and cost needed to sustainably discover, develop and deliver life-changing therapies. Focused on scientific excellence, innovation and continuous improvement, our approximately 63,000 associates worldwide help ensure that Danaher is improving quality of life for billions of people today, while setting the foundation for a healthier, more sustainable tomorrow. Explore more at www.danaher.com.