Joost Brandsma

ROYAL NETHERLANDS INSTITUTE FOR SEA RESEARCH (NIOZ)   Postal address: P.O. Box 59, NL-1790 AB Den Burg (Texel) The Netherlands   Visiting address: Landsdiep 4 NL-1797 SZ ’t Horntje (Texel) The Netherlands   Phone (reception): (+31) (0)222-369300 Fax: (+31) (0)222-319674   E-mail: joost.brandsma@nioz.nl

 

General
2004 – 2008                 2002 – 2003         1998 – 2004	PhD at the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research Department of Marine Organic Biogeochemistry PhD project: “Origin and fate of intact polar membrane lipids in the marine environment”.   Original project (until April 2006): “The nitrogen cycle: foraminifera, bacteria and molecular paleontology of the marine deeper redox zone”.   Student at the University of Iceland (HÍ) Department of Geology and Geography (Jarð- og Landfræðiskor) ERASMUS exchange program “Earth Science for Foreign Students”   Student at the Free University Amsterdam (VUA) Faculty of Earth- and Life Sciences (FALW) MSc thesis: “A proposed model for the influence of (pre)historic hurricane landfalls on the dynamics of a semi-enclosed New England salt marsh”
I also work as a freelance tour guide in Iceland during the summer (www.askja.nl))
Research Interests
·   Intact polar lipid analysis
·   Lipidomics of marine microorganisms (in particular microalgae)
·   Marine microbial ecology
·   Sedimentary coastal environments
Current  Project
Origin and fate of intact polar membrane lipids in the marine environment
Intact polar membrane lipids (IPLs) are abundant constituents of cell membranes in most organisms and are widely used as biomarkers in microbial ecology and biogeochemistry. The various types of IPLs are commonly classified according to the molecular structure of their headgroup, and include such groups as phospholipids, glycolipids, sulfolipids, betaine lipids, sphingolipids and many more. In recent years the possibilities for structural analysis of IPLs have been greatly increased by the coupling of high performance liquid chromatography systems to (multistage) mass spectrometry through an electrospray ionization interface. Such HPLC/ESI-MSn systems allow for the analysis of intact lipid molecules, without the need for derivatization steps which would lead to a loss of structural information. My research focuses on the origin, dynamics and fate of IPLs in the marine environment. I use GC-MS, (preparative) LC-MS and HPLC/ESI-MS/MS systems to elucidate the lipidome of marine microorganisms and water column and sediment samples. By comparing the lipid data with supporting environmental and microbiological data, my aim is to determine how well IPL abundances reflect the in situ microbial community structure and biomass, and how changing environmental conditions are expressed in the IPL composition.     Figure: Base peak chromatogram showing the IPL composition of the marine diatom Chaetoceros calcitrans. Many of the detected IPL classes comprise hundreds of different IPL molecules, all of which share the same type of headgroup, but differ in fatty acid composition (Brandsma et al., in review).
People involved: ·   Prof. Dr Ir Jaap S. Sinninghe Damsté (promotor), Prof. Stefan Schouten (co-promotor) and Dr Ellen C. Hopmans (Department of Marine Organic Biogeochemistry) ·   Dr. Marcel J.W. Veldhuis and Dr. Corina P.D. Brussaard (Department of Biological Oceanography) ·   Dr Ir Katja J.M. Philippart (Department of Marine Ecology)
Funding: NWO-Coupled Biosphere-Geosphere programme & Spinoza Prize awarded to Prof. Dr Ir Jaap S. Sinninghe Damsté
Duration: September 2004 – August 2010
Publications
Van de Plassche O, Erkens G, van Vliet F, Brandsma J, van der Borg RJ & de Jong AFM (2006). Salt marsh erosion associated with a 15th and a 17th century hurricane landfall in southern New England. Geology 34 (10): 829-832.   Brandsma J, van de Vossenberg J, Risgaard-Petersen N, Schmid MC, Engström P, Eurenius K, Hulth S, Jaeschke A, Abbas B, Hopmans EC, Strous M, Schouten S, Jetten MSM & Sinninghe Damsté JS (in press). A multi-proxy study of anaerobic ammonium oxidation in marine sediments from the Gullmar Fjord, Sweden. Environmental Microbiology Reports doi: 10.1111/j.1758-2229.2010.00233.x.   Brandsma J, Hopmans EC, Veldhuis MJW, Brussaard CPD, Schouten S & Sinninghe Damsté JS. A degradation study of intact polar lipids of a marine diatom (Chaetoceros calcitrans).  Organic Geochemistry (in review).   Brandsma J, Hopmans EC, Brussaard CPD, Martínez Martínez J, Baas M, Witte HJ, Schouten S & Sinninghe Damsté JS. Relationships between the intact polar lipid distribution and microbial biomass, community composition and nutrients in marine surface waters (North Sea). Limnology and Oceanography (in review).   Brandsma J, Hopmans EC, Philippart CJM, Veldhuis MJW, Schouten S & Sinninghe Damsté JS. Temporal variations in intact polar lipids in coastal marine waters (North Sea). Biogeosciences (in review).   Brandsma J, Hopmans EC, Veldhuis MJW, Brussaard CPD, Schouten S & Sinninghe Damsté JS. Changes in the intact polar lipid fatty acid composition of the marine diatom Chaetoceros calcitrans during dark-induced senescence. Phytochemistry (in preparation).