UNIVERSITA VITA-SALUTE SAN RAFFAELE

Their core work

UniSR is a Milan-based research university closely integrated with San Raffaele Hospital, one of Italy's leading clinical research centers. Their core work spans cancer immunotherapy (including CAR-T cell therapies), type 1 diabetes, clinical trial design, and digital health — combining deep biomedical research with direct access to patient cohorts and clinical infrastructure. They contribute translational expertise to large European consortia, bridging laboratory science and real-world clinical outcomes across oncology, neurology, and immune-mediated diseases. Their recent projects increasingly involve AI-driven diagnostics, liquid biopsy technologies, and platform trial methodologies.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In the early period (2015–2018), UniSR focused on health big data analytics, integrated care services, cancer biomarkers, and building foundational clinical sample networks — exemplified by AEGLE's data platform work and INNODIA's biobank and trial network infrastructure. From 2019 onward, their focus shifted decisively toward AI-driven clinical tools, liquid biopsy diagnostics, digital mobility assessment, and structured platform trial operations (EU-PEARL, UNITE4TB, OPTIMA). The trajectory shows a clear move from data collection and infrastructure building toward applied AI and precision medicine delivery.

UniSR is converging on AI-powered clinical decision-making and adaptive trial platforms, making them a strong fit for future projects that need clinical AI validation in real hospital settings.

How they like to work

UniSR overwhelmingly operates as a consortium partner (19 of 25 projects) rather than a coordinator, with only one coordinated project — the MSCA fellowship CIRCLE. They participate in large, multi-country consortia (330 unique partners across 27 countries), which reflects their role as a high-value clinical and translational contributor that other coordinators actively seek out. Their five third-party participations (EURE-CART, SARAS, CARAMBA, EDIT, Smart4Health) suggest they also serve as a subcontracted specialist, particularly for clinical validation and patient access.

With 330 unique consortium partners across 27 countries, UniSR has one of the broadest collaborative networks among Italian health research universities. Their partnerships span the full EU landscape with no narrow geographic concentration, reflecting consistent demand for their clinical expertise across diverse European consortia.

What sets them apart

UniSR's integration with San Raffaele Hospital gives them something most universities cannot offer: direct access to clinical cohorts, patient data, and hospital infrastructure for real-world validation of research outcomes. This clinical embedding makes them especially valuable for projects that need to bridge the gap between laboratory findings and regulatory-grade clinical evidence. Their combination of immunotherapy depth, digital health experience, and adaptive trial methodology is rare in a single institution.

Highlights from their portfolio

• UNITE4TB
  Their largest funded project (EUR 788,000), combining AI with innovative clinical trial platforms for tuberculosis treatment — a major IMI-scale effort running until 2028.
• EU-PEARL
  Second-largest funding (EUR 734,250), pioneering patient-centric platform trial design with Bayesian statistics — a methodology now being adopted across therapeutic areas.
• T2EVOLVE
  EUR 629,550 project directly accelerating CAR-T and TCR-engineered cell therapy access in Europe, positioned at the frontier of cancer immunotherapy commercialization.