Jochen Brocks

I like to call my field of research Paleobiogeochemistry because I am fascinated by biological processes in deep time such as the origin of life, mysterious ecosystems in Earth's earliest oceans and environmental cataclysms that may have spawned the emergence of complex life.

To find clues to ancient ecosystems, I study molecular fossils of biological lipids (biomarkers) that can be preserved in sedimentary rocks for billions of years.

In our laboratory at the Research School of Earth Sciences, we specialise in the detection of traces of biogenic molecules using the most sensitive techniques available.