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CAR-T therapy uses a patient’s own immune cells, genetically modified to fight cancer.
By Shula Rosen
Bar-Ilan University has become a partner in an €8 million European project to make advanced cancer treatment faster, safer, and more widely available.
The five-year program, funded through the European Union’s Innovative Health Initiative, aims to automate the production of CAR-T cell therapy so hospitals can provide it directly to patients within 24 hours.
CAR-T therapy uses a patient’s own immune cells, genetically modified to fight cancer.
The treatment has shown remarkable success but is currently limited to a small number of patients because production is costly and confined to a handful of specialized facilities.
The new project, called EASYGEN, seeks to change that by decentralizing the process and allowing hospitals to manufacture the therapy on-site.
Bar-Ilan University’s role centers on safety. Prof. Ayal Hendel, an expert in genome engineering at the Goodman Faculty of Life Sciences, will lead research on ensuring that CRISPR gene-editing tools used in CAR-T are precise.
“Our goal is to make sure the powerful gene editing tools used in this therapy are as accurate as possible,” Hendel said in a press release. “By improving the safety profile, we’re helping pave the way for hospitals around the world to offer these treatments directly and confidently to patients.”
The project is coordinated by the German healthcare company Fresenius and involves 18 partners from eight countries, including the Fraunhofer Institute in Leipzig, the University of Glasgow, and the University of Navarra.
According to Fresenius researcher Dr. Sonja Steppan, automating CAR-T production is essential to making the therapy broadly accessible, especially outside major research centers.
For Israel, Bar-Ilan’s participation highlights the country’s growing role in cutting-edge biomedical innovation.
By contributing its expertise in CRISPR safety, the university strengthens its international standing while helping to shape the future of personalized cancer care.
If successful, EASYGEN could allow hospitals across Europe and beyond to produce patient-specific therapies in-house, reducing costs, easing pressure on clinical staff, and delivering life-saving treatments more quickly.
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