Jaap Sinninghe Damste

Prof. Jaap Sinninghe Damste is a Professor of Organic Geochemistry at Utrecht University's Faculty of Geosciences, with a dual appointment at the NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research. He leads the Netherlands Earth System Science Centre and holds roles in the Department of Marine Microbiology and Biogeochemistry. His expertise spans biomarker analysis, diagenetic processes, and paleoenvironmental reconstruction. He earned degrees from Delft University of Technology (BSc 1982, MSc 1984, PhD 1988) and has held academic and leadership positions since 1984.

• Research focuses on: biomarker-derived climate proxies, kerogen formation mechanisms, and microbial lipid adaptations.
• Over 800 journal publications, including 23 in Nature, 12 in Science, and 7 in PNAS.
• Recipient of prestigious awards including the Spinoza Prize (2004), Heineken Prize (2014), and ERC Grants (2008, 2015).

Research Interests

His work decodes organic molecules in sediments to trace historical climate shifts and petroleum source rock formation. Key areas include: (1) biomarker stability during diagenesis, (2) sulfur-rich macromolecular aggregates' role in carbon sequestration, and (3) kerogen's chemical structure and petroleum generation potential.

Grants & Leadership

Directed multi-million Euro projects like the Gravitation Award (€28M) and coordinated international networks (FP5 Marie Curie Network). Supervised 55 PhD students and serves on editorial boards of Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta and Organic Geochemistry.