ESPACE aims to build a first version of the Human Cell Atlas of the Pancreas. It is one of six projects that make up the H2020-HCA cluster funded by The European Union within Horizon 2020’s Research and Innovation Programme. Nine months into the projects, the H2020-CHA cluster met in a second cross-project meeting arranged by the European Commission.
The purpose of the meeting was for each project to share information on their progress and for the projects to discuss collaboration opportunities. During the meeting, the projects also decided on next steps in their work to build the Human Cell Atlas (HCA), where each project focuses on a different organ.
The HCA is a global initiative with the mission to create comprehensive reference maps of all human cells – the fundamental units of life – as a basis for both understanding human health and diagnosing, monitoring, and treating disease.
H2020-HCA cluster projects deepen their collaboration
The ongoing pandemic has posed numerous challenges on the H2020-HCA cluster projects. However, despite the many unexpected obstacles during the projects’ first months, they all reported good progress on setting up procedures and infrastructures for generating and analysing data that will be fed into the HCA.
LINQ is a driving force in encouraging cross-project collaboration in the H2020-HCA cluster. We have worked together with the HCA Executive Office to set up a joint landing page that provides information about both the cluster and each project.
We are also liaising with each H2020-HCA projects’ communication departments, the European Commission, and the HCA Executive Office to design a joint social media strategy for the cluster.
During the September meeting, the projects laid the foundation for further collaboration and agreed to explore the possibility of organising more frequent joint meetings and workshops.