Despite the initial high expectations of genome variation studies, only a small proportion of the genetic risk of common and complex diseases has been identified so far. Most of the work has focused on single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and copy number variants (CNVs). Inversions, on the other hand, are a type of structural variant that affects a large fraction of the human genome and is implicated in phenotypic differences in diverse organisms. However, they have been poorly studied because their specific characteristics make their detection especially challenging and how much they contribute to human diseases is not yet well known. As part of the INVFEST ERC Starting Grant, we have developed a novel high-throughput technique for genotyping multiple human inversions in hundreds of individuals, which opens new opportunities in the characterization of inversion functional effects and their association with diseases. The aim of the IN2DIAG project is to increase the value of this technology as an innovative diagnostic kit for human inversions that could be licensed to an industrial partner for its commercialization. To achieve that, the main goals are: (1) Carry out a proof of principle study of the association of inversions and 10 common diseases and other health-relevant traits to demonstrate the potential applicability of the technology; (2) Extend the current market research of inversion genotyping needs in a clinical setting and strengthen the contacts with potential licensees and end-user companies; and (3) Maintain the current IPR strategy and if necessary expand this protection with additional patents of possible new discoveries. Our project therefore involves a combined approach, strengthening both the scientific and commercial aspects of the technology, to bring to the market a new tool for the analysis of previously unknown genetic variants, helping to fulfill precision medicine promises.

In the quest to better understand local climate change impacts on physical, biological, and socioeconomic systems and how such impacts are locally perceived, scientists are challenged by the scarcity of grounded data, which has resulted in a call for exploring new data sources. People with a long history of interaction with the environment have developed complex knowledge systems that allow them to detect local impacts of climatic variability, but these insights are absent in climate change research and policy fora. I will bring insights from local knowledge to climate research by 1) providing data on local climate change impacts on physical (e.g., shrinking glaciers) and biological systems (e.g., phenological changes) and on perceptions of climate change impacts on socioeconomic systems (e.g., crop failure due to rainfall patterns change) and 2) testing hypotheses on the global spatial, socioeconomic and demographic distribution of local climate change impacts indicators. Research will last five years. The first 18 months, Preparation, I will train a team who will develop and implement a data collection protocol and design a web-based platform where citizens can enter information on local climate change impacts indicators. During the following two years, Data collection, we will train 40 external PhD students to collect project’s data in data-deficient regions and disseminate the platform. During the last 18 months, Analysis, the core team will use spatial matching and multivariate analysis to test hypotheses related to the spatial, socioeconomic, and demographic distribution of local climate change impacts indicators. External PhD students will analyse local data. Dissemination will be transversal to the project. This project will fill theoretical and spatial gaps on climate change impacts research. It will also improve local capacity to respond to climate change impacts and help bridge epistemological differences between local and scientific knowledge systems.

The Environmental Justice Atlas (www.ejatlas.org) is a global database built by us, drawing on activist and academic knowledge. It maps 1500 conflicts. To improve geographical and thematic coverage it will grow to 3000 by 2019. It systematizes conflicts across 100+ fields documenting the commodities at stake, the actors involved, impacts, forms of mobilizations and outcomes allowing analyses that will lead to a general theory of ecological distribution conflicts. We shall research the links between changes in social metabolism and resource extraction conflicts at the “commodity frontiers”. Also other questions in political ecology and social movement theory such as the effectiveness of direct action by grassroots protesters compared to institutional forms of contention. Does the involvement of different actors, e.g. indigenous groups, relate to different conflict outcomes? How often does the IUCN ally itself to "the environmentalism of the poor"? Do mobilizations and outcomes vary across sectors (mining, hydroelectric dams, waste incinerators) according to project differences in economic and biophysical dimensions, environmental and health risks? Are conflicts on point resources (mining, oil extraction) regularly different from conflicts in agriculture? Can we track networked resistances against Western companies, compared to those from China or other countries? Resistance to environmental damage has brought into being many local and some international EJOs pushing for alternative social transformations. We shall study the Vocabulary of Environmental Justice they deploy: climate justice, water justice, food sovereignty, biopiracy, sacrifice zones, and other terms specific to countries: Chinese “cancer villages”, Indian “sand mafias”, Brazilian “green deserts” (eucalyptus plantations). Finally, are there signs of an alliance between the Global Environmental Justice Movement and the small European movement for “prosperity without growth”, décroissance, Post-Wachstum?