Jan Pawlowski, is a world-leading specialist in molecular evolution and ecology of microbial eukaryotes. He holds a Professor position at the Institute of Oceanology Polish Academy of Sciences and a position of an Associate Professor of Biology at the Department of Genetics and Evolution at the University of Geneva (Switzerland). His scientific interests range from phylogeny and systematics to biogeography and genetic diversity of foraminifera and other protists. Large part of his activities is devoted to DNA barcoding and metabarcoding of marine biodiversity, focusing on analyses of modern and ancient sedimentary DNA.
As a PI, he will be responsible for coordinating the project in collaboration with the Norwegian partners. More specifically, he will supervise the generation and analyses of metabarcoding data in WP1 and WP3.
Affiliation: Laboratory of Paleoceanography, Institute of Oceanology Polish Academy of Science
The principal investigator, Stijn De Schepper, is a research professor at NORCE Climate. Dr Stijn De Schepper is a palaeoceanographer who has worked on North Atlantic and Nordic Seas circulation, past warm climates and Arctic sea ice reconstructions. His main expertise is in Neogene and Quaternary palynology, and over the years he has worked with different paleoceanographic proxies (Mg/Ca thermometry, stable isotopes of foraminifers and organic biomarkers). Recently, his research focuses on developing environmental sedimentary ancient DNA as a new proxy for paleoceanography and specifically for sea ice reconstructions.
Dr Stijn De Schepper received a PhD from the University of Cambridge (UK, 2006). Since then he spend his all scientific career abroad, incl. Norway, Germany and UK. He has published over 40 papers on paleoceanography, palynology and (in)organic geochemistry in leading journals in the field (incl. Nature Commun. 2015) and has a track record as the PI of several projects. He is the driving force behind successful research projects on palaeo-sea ice research using different proxies (RCN: PEGSIE, aDNAPROX) as well as a holder of an ERC Consolidator Grant (2019–2024) to develop ancient DNA as a proxy for sea ice.
Affiliation: NORCE Norwegian Research Centre, NORCE Climate
Marek Trapper Zajączkowski, is a specialist in paleoceanography and modern processes of sedimentation in Arctic marine environments. He holds a Professor position at the Institute of Oceanology Polish Academy of Sciences, and since 2017 he leads new Laboratory of Paleoceanography in the Institute of Oceanology Polish Academy of Sciences. Main part of his activity are the Arctic sea environmental changes after last glaciation and contemporary oceanography of the Nordic Seas, with a special focus on the sea productivity and carbon burial. In his work he use classic sedimentary proxies like sediment grain size, sortable silt including, IRD, fossil carbon and stable isotopes. Moreover, his speciality is foraminifera analyses as the past environmental indicator.
In NEEDED project he will be responsible for the sediment cores retrieving, sediment cores dating, grain size analyses including IRD fraction and TC/TOC analyses in WP2. Moreover he will supervise PhD student in scope of paleoceanographic proxies and processes.
Affiliation: Laboratory of Paleoceanography, Institute of Oceanology Polish Academy of Science
Joanna Pawłowska is an Assistant Professor in the Laboratory of Paleoceanography, Institute of Oceanology Polish Academy of Sciences. Her scientific interests focus on the application of molecular tools for the assessment of benthic and planktonic ecosystems and for reconstructing past climate and environmental changes. She has wide experience in working with sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA).
She received a PhD in Natural Sciences from the Institute of Oceanology PAS in 2015. In 2011-2012 she was employed at the Department of Genetics, University of Geneva. Since then, she was a PI of four research projects focusing on the ecology of Arctic foraminifera and sedaDNA research in Arctic region.
In the NEEDED project, she will be involved in the analysis of sedaDNA in the sediment cores (WP3) and in the analysis of metabarcoding data (WP1, WP3).
Affiliation: Laboratory of Paleoceanography, Institute of Oceanology Polish Academy of Science
Magdalena Łącka is an Assistant Professor in the Laboratory of Paleoceanography, Institute of Oceanology Polish Academy of Sciences. She is an experienced researcher in the field of paleoceanography, using a broad range of standard (micropaleontology, sedimentology) and novel proxies (alkenones) for the reconstruction of past climatic changes in the Nordic Seas.
She received a PhD in Natural Sciences from Institute of Oceanology PAS in 2016. In 2013 she was employed as a Lab Assistant at Department of Geology, University of Tromsø, Tromsø, Norway. In 2015 she underwent a training on alkenone measurements with GC-FID at ICTA (Barcelona, Spain) under supervision of Prof. Antoni Rosell-Melé.
In the NEEDED project she is a co-leader of Work Package 2 and she will be involved in biomarker analysis (alkenones, IP25).
Affiliation: Laboratory of Paleoceanography, Institute of Oceanology Polish Academy of Science
Maciej M. Telesiński is an Assistant Professor in the Laboratory of Paleoceanography, Institute of Oceanology Polish Academy of Sciences. His main field of interest is the reconstruction of past ocean circulation using planktic and benthic foraminifera, stable isotopes and radiocarbon ventilation ages. His recent studies concern changes in Atlantic Water routing and deep water formation in the Nordic Seas since the Last Glacial Maximum.
He received a PhD in Natural Sciences from the Christian-Albrecht University of Kiel, Germany in 2014. From 2014 until 2016 he was a Postdoc at GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Science Kiel and the Academy of Sciences and Literature Mainz, Germany. Since 2016 he works as a research scientist at the Institute of Oceanology Polish Academy of Sciences. In 2019 he finished postgraduate studies in Programming and Databases at the Gdańsk University of Technology.
In the NEEDED project, he is involved in Work Package 2. He is engaged in micropaleontological and sedimentological analyses of sediment material and interpretation of paleoceanographic data.
Affiliation: Laboratory of Paleoceanography, Institute of Oceanology Polish Academy of Science
Dhanushka Devendra is a Doctoral student at the laboratory of Paleoceanography, Institute of Oceanology Polish Academy of Sciences. His research principally focuses on the study of paleoceanography and paleoclimatology with a special emphasis on understanding the origin of deep and surface water masses and the origin and mechanisms of abrupt climate change during the glacial-interglacial period. He estimated surface productivity and bottom water ventilation, respect to past environmental changes and climatic changes by measuring the ecological significance and geochemical composition of benthic foraminifera in the northeastern Indian Ocean for the last glacial.
He received a Bachelor's Degree in Oceanography and Marine Geology at the University of Ruhuna, Sri Lanka, in 2015. He received a Master's Degree (2019) from the South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, China.
In the NEEDED project, he will involve in Work Package 2, and his expected role in the project is consists of sample collection, grain size analysis, foraminifera and dinocyst sample preparation, and analysis.
Affiliation: Laboratory of Paleoceanography, Institute of Oceanology Polish Academy of Science
Ngoc-Loi Nguyen is a Doctoral Student at the Laboratory of Paleoceanography, Institute of Oceanology Polish Academy of Sciences. His main interest are the environmental microbiology and genomics, microbial ecology, and marine microbiology. For Master thesis, his works are involved in screening novel methanotrophs, which hunts novel methanotrophs using for the conversion of methane to valuable short-chain compounds. He is experienced in metagenome analysis, genomic comparative and familiar with method in both anaerobic and aerobic microbial cultivations.
He received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biotechnology and Pharmacology at the University of Science and Technology of Hanoi, Vietnam, in 2015, specializing in Animal Cell Biotech. He received a Master of Science Degree in Biotechnology and Microbiology at the Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, South Korea, in 2020.
In the NEEDED project, he will involve in Work Package 1, and his expected role in the project is collecting and processing water and surface sediment DNA samples, compiling the reference database of Nordic Seas metabarcodes, and comparing water and sediment DNA metabarcodes.
Affiliation: Laboratory of Paleoceanography, Institute of Oceanology Polish Academy of Science
Magdalena Krajewska is a researcher in the Marine Pollution Laboratory at the Institute of Oceanology Polish Academy of Sciences. Her scientific interests are focused on organic compounds (e.g. pigments, steroids) in sediments as markers of primary production, phytoplankton taxonomic composition, organic matter sources and climate changes. Her PhD study concerned study of environmental conditions in the past based on carotenoids in sediments from the Gulf of Gdansk, Norwegian fjords and Spitsbergen fjords.
She received a Master’s Degree in chemistry from Gdansk University of Technology in 2014 and a PhD from Institute of Oceanology PAS in 2020.
In the NEEDED project she is involved in alkenone analysis in the WP2.
Affiliation: Marine Pollution Labolatory, Institute of Oceanology Polish Academy of Science
Jessica Louise Ray is a Senior Researcher at NORCE Norwegian Research Centre AS in Bergen, Norway. Her research interests lie in integrated use of quantitative (qPCR and droplet digital PCR) and qualitative (NGS) molecular methods for investigation of micro- and meso-scale trophic interactions in pelagic, coastal and freshwater marine environments. Her research activities encompass both basic and applied research projects that utilize a variety of molecular tools to characterize and quantify (1) trophic interactions between marine viruses and zooplankton, (2) changes in marine sediment biological diversity as an indicator of impacts from offshore petroleum activity and (3) ancient sedimentary DNA (sedaDNA) in marine sediments as a new proxy for past sea ice reconstructions in the Arctic, (4) predation pressure in marine food webs and (5) the utility of environmental DNA (eDNA) as a tracer for keystone organisms in aquatic ecosystem. She is experienced with design and coordination of laboratory and field-scale experiments, including seawater mesocosms and research cruises.
Dr. Ray obtained her PhD in Microbiology from the University of Tromsø The Arctic University of Norway in 2007. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship in terrestrial microbial ecology in pasture ecosystems in New Zealand in 2008. Since 2009 she has been working as a researcher in molecular microbial ecology in Bergen.
In the NEEDED project, Dr. Ray is co-leader of work packages 1 (Nordic Seas metabarcoding and taphonomy) and 3 (paleogenomics).
Affiliation: NORCE Norwegian Research Centre, NORCE Climate
Margit Simon is a senior researcher at the climate department at the Norwegian Research Institute in Bergen, Norway. She is a geologist and paleoclimatologist. Her research focuses on the cause and impact of climate variability through time. Using a variety of isotope geochemical methods, she reconstructs Earth's past temperature and climates on land and the sea. She is conducting her research and field work both in the Southern Hemisphere as well as in the (sub-) Arctic (mostly Nordic Seas) and in the Baffin Bay. Her research builds for a large part on the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP).
She received a Master's Degree in Geology from the University of Tuebingen, Germany in 2010 and a PhD from Cardiff University, UK in 2014 as a Marie-Skłodowska-Curie fellow. Her PhD thesis was focused on the land-ocean interactions around South Africa throughout the last two glacial cycles. Since 2015 she has been employed at the Norwegian Research Institute in Bergen, first as a postdoc within the ERC Synergy project “ice2ice” and later in a permanent researcher position associated with the Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour, a Norwegian Centre of Excellence.
In the NEEDED project she is the Co-leader of Work Package 2 activities, with emphasis on geochronology, palaeoceanography and inorganic geochemistry.
Affiliation: NORCE Norwegian Research Centre, NORCE Climate
Agnes Weiner is a postdoctoral researcher at NORCE Climate in Bergen, Norway. In the framework of the NEEDED project she is investigating changes in past biodiversity in the Arctic using ancient DNA from marine sediments. Her general research interests broadly span the fields of ecology and evolution. Her past research focused on shell-building groups of microbial eukaryotes (Foraminifera and Arcellinida) and she used molecular tools in combination with morphological analyses and paleontology to study biodiversity, past and present distribution patterns and eco/evolutionary interactions in these aquatic microbes. In addition, she applied single-cell ‘omics methods to study genome evolution and phylogenomics and eDNA approaches to investigate protist communities.
Agnes received her PhD in 2014 from the University of Bremen, Germany, for her research on the cryptic diversity and distribution patterns of extant planktonic Foraminifera in the global ocean. She then moved to Japan on a JSPS/Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship to carry out postdoctoral research at the Japan Agency for Marine Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) from 2015 to 2017. There, she continued her molecular research on Foraminifera, this time focusing on benthic species from rocky shores and the deep-sea. From 2018 to 2020 Agnes worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at Smith College, MA, USA, where she applied genomics and bioinformatics methods to the study of freshwater Arcellinida. Agnes gained extensive fieldwork experience by joining numerous research expeditions from the Tropics to the Arctic.
In the NEEDED project Agnes will be mainly involved in Work Package 3 (Paleogenomics) and the extraction and analysis of aDNA from marine sediment cores.
Affiliation: NORCE Norwegian Research Centre, NORCE Climate
The project is funded from Norway Grants in the Polish-Norwegian Research Programme
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