Johan Lindgren

Molecular palaeobiology is an emerging geobiological discipline directed towards the study of multimillion-year-old biomolecules and tissues that could provide information on the evolutionary history, biology and ecology of both ancient and modern organisms. I am leading a research group that has specialised in investigating the molecular content, ultrastructure and preservation of both biomineralised and non-biomineralised tissues, such as skin, feathers and bone. A particular focus is given to proteinaceous and/or pigmented organic matter, and those taphonomic pathways enabling its survival across geological time. A range of exceptionally preserved fossils representing different types of animals, time periods and burial conditions are examined; however, my main interest pertains to large-scale evolutionary patterns within various Mesozoic marine reptile lineages, including ichthyosaurs (‘fish-lizards’), mosasaurs and plesiosaurs. My research employs a suite of state-of-the-art analytical techniques, and its cross-disciplinary nature gives me the opportunity (and great pleasure) to work in close collaboration with leading scientists from many other fields, including biologists, chemists and physicists at the Department of Biology (Lund, Sweden), MAX IV laboratory (Lund, Sweden), RISE (Borås, Sweden), North Carolina State University (Raleigh, USA), Fujita Health University (Toyoake, Japan), and University of Göttingen (Göttingen, Germany).