United States Department of Health and Human Services

Their core work

HHS is the US federal department overseeing public health, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH) — the world's largest biomedical research funder. In H2020, HHS labs served exclusively as third-party hosts for European researchers under Marie Skłodowska-Curie mobility fellowships, providing access to advanced biomedical research infrastructure in areas like cancer biology, ophthalmology, and musculoskeletal disease. Their role was to receive visiting fellows and provide world-class laboratory environments, mentorship, and specialized expertise unavailable in Europe.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

Early projects (2015-2016) concentrated on cancer biology, specifically lymphoma signaling pathways and experimental cancer therapies. From 2016 onward, the scope broadened into regenerative medicine and cell biology — cartilage repair, stem cell-derived therapies for eye disease, and advanced microscopy of vascular cells. This shift suggests HHS labs increasingly attracted European fellows working on translational cell biology and tissue repair rather than purely oncological research.

HHS labs are moving toward hosting fellows in regenerative medicine, advanced imaging, and translational cell therapies — areas where NIH infrastructure offers unique capabilities.

How they like to work

HHS participates exclusively as a third party — they host visiting researchers but do not lead or formally partner in H2020 consortia. This is consistent with their role as a non-EU entity providing research infrastructure under MSCA Global Fellowships. With 17 unique partners across 9 countries, they connect to a diverse but relatively small European network, suggesting they accept fellows from varied institutions rather than maintaining deep repeat partnerships.

Connected to 17 unique partners across 9 countries, entirely through MSCA fellowship hosting. The network is broad but shallow — each project brings different European institutions, reflecting the individual nature of fellowship-based mobility rather than strategic consortium partnerships.

What sets them apart

As the only US federal health agency appearing in H2020, HHS offers something no European partner can: direct access to NIH laboratories, which represent the single largest concentration of biomedical research talent and infrastructure globally. For European researchers seeking MSCA Global Fellowships, HHS labs are a premium destination. For consortium builders, however, their third-party-only status means they cannot be a formal partner — they serve best as a prestigious secondment host.

Highlights from their portfolio

• EXO-EYE
  Combines stem cell exosome therapy with ophthalmology — a highly translational topic bridging regenerative medicine and a major unmet clinical need (glaucoma, optic nerve damage).
• BaCTher
  Bacteria for cancer therapy is an unconventional approach at the frontier of immuno-oncology, suggesting HHS hosted research in experimental therapeutic modalities.
• DeLIVER
  Their most recent project (2018-2022) and longest in duration, applying super-resolution microscopy to vascular biology — signals a move toward advanced imaging capabilities.