Thermo Fisher opens second cell and gene therapy development center in US

Thermo Fisher Scientific announced the opening of a new Advanced Therapies Collaboration Center (ATxCC) in Philadelphia, which was created to help biopharma, biotech, and translational customers accelerate their development and commercialization of cell and gene therapies.

The new center marks the launch of the company’s East Coast flagship ATxCC location and is the second of its kind in the U.S., following the launch of its first U.S.-based site in Carlsbad, California in April 2025. The centers are designed to help expand Thermo Fisher’s nationwide network supporting cell and gene therapy innovation. The opening of this center also adds to its established facilities in Korea and Singapore.

The Philadelphia ATxCC is located within BioLabs for Advanced Therapeutics Philadelphia, a newly expanded 53,000-square-foot biotech incubator, and provides emerging startups and biopharma organizations with direct access to Thermo Fisher’s scientists, advanced process development technologies, and collaboration opportunities, according to the company.

“Our new Advanced Therapies Collaboration Center in Philadelphia is designed to help innovators overcome critical hurdles in developing cell and gene therapies. This center will play a key role in supporting customers as they progress from the lab to the clinic and, most importantly, bring transformative therapies to patients faster,” Nicole Brockway, president of biosciences at Thermo Fisher, said in a statement.

Cell and gene therapies are among the top advanced therapeutic modalities powering a forward push in the industry, and offer “the potential to treat, and even cure, diseases once considered untreatable,” according to the company. 

“By embedding the ATxCC within the BioLabs community, we are creating a uniquely rich and accessible resource for founders and startup teams working on groundbreaking therapies in Philadelphia,” Johannes Fruehauf, founder and CEO of BioLabs, said in a statement. “It will offer game-changing access to high-end technologies not only for our BioLabs members but also to external high-potential biotechs from across the East Coast and internationally.”