Danaher Ventures, a global life sciences and diagnostics company, led a $18m funding round in BlueWhale Bio, a new company spun out of the University of Pennsylvania to overcome key bottlenecks in cell and gene therapy manufacturing, with participation from Novalis LifeSciences and Marshall Wace. "This is an exciting time in cell therapy. With an increased focus on growth and adoption, cell-based therapies can become the next pillar of medicine. I am thrilled that together we are looking to develop and commercialize a new cell therapy platform to improve patient care and save lives," Carl June, BlueWhale Bio Director.