ICAHN SCHOOL OF MEDICINE AT MOUNT SINAI

Their core work

Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is a major US-based academic medical center contributing deep biomedical expertise to European research consortia. Their H2020 work centers on environmental health — particularly endocrine disruptors and their effects on human development — alongside neuroscience, liver disease, and digital health infrastructure. They bring large-scale epidemiological data, advanced in vitro and in silico toxicology methods, and clinical cohort access that European partners typically cannot source domestically. As a non-coordinating specialist, they fill critical transatlantic knowledge gaps in projects requiring US patient data, regulatory perspectives, or specific disease biology expertise.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

In the early H2020 period (2015–2018), Mount Sinai focused on foundational biomedical research: personalised medicine, genomics, endocrine disruptor epidemiology, reproductive health, and liver disease pathways. From 2019 onward, their work shifted decisively toward environmental health and regulatory science — developmental neurotoxicity testing, urban exposome analysis, micro/nanoplastics risk assessment, and light pollution health effects. This evolution shows a clear move from molecular disease mechanisms toward population-level environmental health impacts and the tools to assess them.

Mount Sinai is increasingly positioned as a transatlantic bridge for environmental and exposome research, making them a strong partner for future projects on chemical safety, urban health, and regulatory toxicology.

How they like to work

Mount Sinai never coordinates H2020 projects — they participate exclusively as a partner or third party, consistent with their role as a US-based institution contributing specialist expertise to European-led consortia. With 124 unique partners across 27 countries, they operate as a highly connected node rather than a hub, joining large multidisciplinary consortia where their US clinical data, cohorts, or specific disease biology expertise fills a gap. Working with them means accessing a well-resourced American academic medical center willing to play a supporting but substantive role.

With 124 consortium partners across 27 countries, Mount Sinai has one of the broadest international networks for a US-based institution in H2020. Their collaborations span the EU extensively, with a pattern of joining large consortia (often 15+ partners) rather than small bilateral projects.

What sets them apart

As a top-tier US medical school, Mount Sinai offers European consortia something most partners cannot: access to American patient cohorts, US regulatory perspectives, and transatlantic data bridging (as seen in Smart4Health's EU-US EHR exchange). Their dual strength in environmental toxicology and clinical neuroscience is rare, making them especially valuable for projects that need to connect chemical exposure data to human health outcomes across continents. For consortium builders, they are a proven, reliable third-country partner who understands EU project structures.

Highlights from their portfolio

• MICRO-COPS
  Their largest single grant (EUR 2.5M) and an ERC Synergy Grant studying fundamental microglia-neuron interactions — signals deep trust in their neuroscience capabilities.
• Smart4Health
  EUR 1.44M for building EU-US electronic health record exchange infrastructure — their only digital health project and a rare transatlantic data-sharing effort.
• ENDpoiNTs
  Develops next-generation testing strategies for endocrine disruptors and developmental neurotoxicity, combining their toxicology and neuroscience strengths in a single regulatory-impact project.