The Netherlands state of the art Isotope Geochemistry Laboratory (NIGeL) was funded by an Investment Grant NWO-Large in 2021 with matching from the VU Faculty of Science. The project is led by nine PI’s, with contributions from a broader team. The entire research team includes over 80 national researchers from 14 different institutions.
NIGeL Main Objectives
NIGeL is established in purpose-built laboratories at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, but is a national facility to conduct trace element, radiogenic and (non-)traditional stable isotope analyses. It offers innovative research possibilities for isotopic and elemental analysis of geological, archaeological, forensic, cultural heritage, environmental and synthetic materials.
NIGeL facilitates the analysis of markedly smaller sample sizes and a broad range of isotopic systems for both bulk- and in-situ analysis. The facility was established based on four key driving factors:
- Recent technical developments in detector technology that allows a 10-fold decrease in samples size opening up ground-breaking research fields across a wide range of disciplines.
- The development of new collision-cell and MS/MS technology that offers the potential to conduct in situ analysis in compositionally complex samples.
- The fabrication of a state-of-the-art clean laboratory designed to increase sample throughput and reduce contamination, enabling numerous new research questions that require analyses of smaller samples.
- An urgent need to expand capacity to meet the rapidly increasing demand for isotopic data in archaeology, cultural heritage, environmental sciences, and forensics (Fig. 1).
A summary of the main NIGeL research areas is given in the figure below:
Figure 1. NIGeL research objectives
NIGeL: Project Team
The NIGeL project is led by a multidisciplinary team from the Geology & Geochemistry group of the Department of Earth Sciences: Janne Koornneef (Head), Pieter Vroon, and Lisette Kootker. PI Gareth Davies retired at the end of 2024, but is actively involved through his role on the Governance Board.
All Co-PIs on the project:
| Prof. Gareth Davies | Geology & Geochemistry, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam (retired) |
| Prof. Hans Huisman: | RCE & Groningen University |
| Prof. Katrien Keune: | Rijksmuseum & University of Amsterdam |
| Dr. Janne Koornneef: | Geology & Geochemistry, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam |
| Prof. Wout Krijgsman: | Geosciences, Utrecht University |
| Dr. Jason Laffoon: | Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University |
| Prof. Paul Mason: | Geosciences, Utrecht University |
| Dr. Gerard van der Peijl: | National Forensic Institute, The Hague (retired) |
| Dr. Pieter Z. Vroon: | Geology & Geochemistry, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam |
NIGeL users are summarized in the figure on the left. The inner circle represents the expected usage per discipline. The middle circle the multi-national and multi-disciplinary research infrastructures and institutes and research schools making use of NIGeL. The outer circle lists the major user institutes.
NIGEL: Management and Governance
Management and oversight are conducted by a Daily Coordination Committee and Governance Board.
i) The Daily Coordination Committee
The Daily Coordination Committee (DCC) is responsible for routine operation the quality of collected data, progress of technical developments, and input from internal and external users to evaluate the facilities support and performance. DCC members are responsible for planning instrument maintenance, ensuring the successful and timely execution of technical development, training and supervision of PhD students, post docs and national/international visitors.
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The DCC comprises representatives of the major national users and its membership will evolve with time. The DCC committee members who are active in the laboratories will join weekly user meetings that ensure the effective day-to-day operation.
The Daily Coordination Committee composes the following members:
| Dr Pieter Vroon: (Chair DCC) | Email: p.z.vroon@vu.nl Tel. 0205987404 |
| Mantle geochemist, Archaean environments and planetary applications and expert in MC-ICPMS | |
| Dr Graham Hagen-Peter: | Email: g.a.hagen-peter@vu.nl Tel. +31205981089 |
| Clean laboratory and (LA)-(MC)-ICP-MS manager | |
| Dr Janne Koornneef: | Email: j.m.koornneef@vu.nl Tel. +31205981824 |
| Mantle geochemist and expert in analyses of sub nanogram samples by TIMS equipped with high Ohm amplifiers | |
| Dr Lisette Kootker | Email: lisette.kootker@vu.nl Tel. +31205987291 |
| Bioarchaeologist, specialized in isotope archaeology (mobility and diet) and forensics, with strong links to commercial archaeology companies and local forensic and government agencies. | |
| Dr Jason Laffoon: | j.e.laffoon@arch.leidenuniv.nl Tel. +31715277015 |
| Faculty of Archaeology, Leiden University. Archaeologist specialized in Caribbean archaeology and human and animal mobility and diet. | |
| Prof Paul Mason: | Email: p.mason@uu.nl Tel. +31302535120 |
| Department of Earth Sciences, Utrecht University. Geochemist specialized in stable and non-traditional stable isotopes in modern and Archaean environments. | |
Additional technical support for NIGeL is provided by:
- Ing W. van der Plas, electronics specialist
- Ing O. Postma, vacuum specialist
- Five student assistants assist with daily operations
ii) Governance Board:
The Governance Board (GB) provides long term oversight and ensures the overall performance of the NIGEL facility by evaluating the key impact indicators that measure the socio-economic impact of the facility. Comprising senior scientists from diverse disciplines, the GB brings the expertise needed to assess both the technical and multidisciplinary aspects of the facility.
The GB is the body ultimately responsible for decision making.:
- Approval of major new projects by the user community that require significant resource allocation.
- Monitoring the balance between national and international users (i.e., percentage of external users and resources allocated between national users).
- Monitoring the balance of users from different disciplines.
- Approve costs charged to national and international users and commercial rates for access to the Facility.
- Monitor overall progress of technical development projects and if there are delays in implementation, approve/amend plans proposed by the DCC.
- Conflict resolution within the scientific user community in respect of resource allocation unresolved by the DCC.
- Monitor that the facility is in compliance with commitments made to European infrastructures: Europlanet 2024-RI; IPERION-CH and, if funded, ILAST and national research consortia such as NICAS.
- Recommend changes to the membership of the DCC in line with changing usage of NIGeL.
- Ensure overall facility usage is in compliance with gender and age norms.
The GB comprises the following members:
- Prof Klaudia Kuiper: Head of the Department of Earth Sciences, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
- Dr Janne Koornneef: Lead of NIGeL. Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
- Prof. Gareth Davies: PI of the proposal and retired lead of NIGeL. An isotope geochemist specialising in mantle geochemistry and applications in archaeology and cultural heritage.
- Prof. Martyn Drury: Department of Earth Sciences, Utrecht University. National representative of EPOS-NL, which is one of the National Roadmap Large-Scale Research Infrastructures. Prof Drury is an expert in the analysis of mineralogical reactions at the micro-nano scale with extensive experience in mineral analysis.
- Prof. Hans Huisman: University of Groningen and Cultural Heritage Agency (RCE). An archaeologist specialising in archaeometric methods. He is the former national representative of E-RIHS and member of the board of ARCHON, the Netherlands research school for archaeology.
- Dr. Katrien Keune: Head of Science at the Rijksmuseum. Dr Keune is an analytical chemist specialising in Cultural Heritage research and a work package leader in IPERION-CH and an active member of NICAS.
- Prof Gert-Jan Reichart: Head of the Ocean Systems Department at the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ). Prof Reichart has extensive experience with the chemical-isotopic analysis of diverse marine materials. He is scientist in charge of the MC-ICPMS at NIOZ.
- Marit Besteman. VU Amsterdam. Departmental manager and financial specialist, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.
NIGeL Amsterdam 