Profile

Su Ding

Professor (full). Recipient of the National Overseas High-Level Talent Program (2026) and the Hubei Province BR Talent Program  (2026). 

Research focuses on the evolution of geological microorganisms and their interactions with climate and environmental change. Developed untargeted lipidomics pipelines in biogeochemistry, enabling new insights into microbe–environment interactions in geological systems. 

Published multiple papers as first or corresponding author in leading international journals such as PNAS, Nature Communications, and The ISME Journal. 

Research interests

• Microbe–environment interaction mechanisms

• Roles of microorganisms in biogeochemical cycles

• Evolution of geological microorganisms and their relationships with climate and environmental change through modern–ancient comparisons

Work experience

2026.1-present, full professor, China University of Geosciences (Wuhan)

2019.12-2025.12, postdoctoral fellow, biogeochemistry, Department of Marine Microbiology and Biogeochemistry, NIOZ Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, co-supervisors, Prof. Jaap S. Sinninghe Damsté, Dr. Nicole Bale, Prof. Stefan Schouten

2019.08-2019.12, postdoctoral fellow, biogeochemistry, Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, co-supervisors, Prof. Gerd Gleixner and Prof. Georg Pohnert

2018.09-2018.10, Ruth Welti’s group from Kansas State University visited to study plant lipidomics

2017.07-2017.10, Kai-Uwe Hinrichs’ group from the University of Bremen in Germany visited to learn microbial lipid identification

 

Educational experience

2015.08-2019.08, PhD, Biogeochemistry, Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry (MPI-BGC), Germany

Mentors: Prof. Gerd Gleixner, Prof. Georg Pohnert, Dr. Markus Lange, Dr. Valerie Schwab

    Thesis title: Sources and environmental controls of microbial membrane lipids in soils and groundwater

2012.09-2015.06, Master, Organic Geochemistry, Peking University, School of Urban and Environmental Sciences

Supervisor: Prof. Yunping Xu (currently working at the Deep Sea Research Center of Shanghai Ocean University)

Thesis title: Distribution of branched tetraether membrane lipids in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and its temperature reconstruction in high-cold and arid areas

2006.09-2010.06, Bachelor, Applied Chemistry, Kunming University of Science and Technology, School of Science

Thesis title: Computational chemical structure and principle of zinc clusters

First Author/Corresponding author publications (including co-first authors*)

1.  Ding, S. *, Bale, N.J., Cutmore, A., Von Meijenfeldt, F.A.B., Schouten, S., Sinninghe Damsté, J.S., 2025. Substantial contribution of in-situ produced bacterial lipids to the sedimentary lipidome. ISME Communications 5, 1. doi: 10.1101/2025.02.27.640310

2.  Ding, S*., Grossi, V., Hopmans, E.C., Bale, N.J., Cravo-Laureau, C., Sinninghe Damsté, J.S., 2024. Nitrogen and sulfur for phosphorus: Lipidome adaptation of anaerobic sulfate-reducing bacteria in phosphorus-deprived conditions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 121, e2400711121. doi:10.1073/pnas.2400711121

3.  Ding, S.*, Hamm, J.N.*, Bale, N.J., Sinninghe Damsté, J.S., Spang, A., 2024. Selective lipid recruitment by an archaeal DPANN symbiont from its host. Nature Communications 15, 3405. doi:10.1038/s41467-024-47750-2

4.  Ding, S.*, Von Meijenfeldt, F.A.B.*, Bale, N.J., Sinninghe Damsté, J.S., Villanueva, L., 2024. Production of structurally diverse sphingolipids by anaerobic marine bacteria in the euxinic Black Sea water column. The ISME Journal 153. doi:10.1093/ismejo/wrae153

5.  Ding, S.*, Henkel, J.V., Hopmans, E.C., Bale, N.J., Koenen, M., Villanueva, L., Sinninghe Damsté, J.S., 2022. Changes in the membrane lipid composition of a Sulfurimonas species depend on the electron acceptor used for sulfur oxidation. ISME Communications 2, 121. doi:10.1038/s43705-022-00207-3

6.  Ding, S.*, Bale, N.J., Hopmans, E.C., Villanueva, L., Arts, M.G.I., Schouten, S., Sinninghe Damsté, J.S., 2021. Lipidomics of environmental microbial communities. II: Characterization using molecular networking and Information Theory. Frontiers in Microbiology 12, 659315. doi:10.3389/fmicb.2021.659315

7.  Ding, S.*, Lange, M., Lipp, J., Schwab, V.F., Chowdhury, S., Pollierer, M.M., Krause, K., Li, D., Kothe, E., Scheu, S., Welti, R., Hinrichs, K.-U., Gleixner, G., 2020. Characteristics and origin of intact polar lipids in soil organic matter. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 151, 108045. doi:10.1016/j.soilbio.2020.108045

8.  Ding, S., Kohlhepp, B., Trumbore, S., Küsel, K., Totsche, K.-U., Pohnert, G., Gleixner, G., Schwab, V.F., 2018. In situ production of core and intact bacterial and archaeal tetraether lipids in groundwater. Organic Geochemistry 126, 1–12. doi:10.1016/j.orggeochem.2018.10.005

9.  Ding, S., Schwab, V.F., Ueberschaar, N., Roth, V.-N., Lange, M., Xu, Y., Gleixner, G., Pohnert, G., 2016. Identification of novel 7-methyl and cyclopentanyl branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers in lake sediments. Organic Geochemistry 102, 52–58. doi:10.1016/j.orggeochem.2016.09.009

10. Ding, S., Xu, Y., Wang, Y., He, Y., Hou, J., Chen, L., He, J.-S., 2015. Distribution of branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers in surface soils of the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau: implications of brGDGTs-based proxies in cold and dry regions. Biogeosciences 12, 3141–3151. doi:10.5194/bg-12-3141-2015

11. Ding, S., Xu, Y., Wang, Y., Zhang, X., Zhao, L., Ruan, J., Wu, W., 2014. Spatial and Temporal Variability of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Sediments from Yellow River-Dominated Margin. The Scientific World Journal 2014, 1–9. doi:10.1155/2014/654183

 

Co-authored papers：

1.    Zheng, F., Yao, W., He, W., Zhang, W., Chen, Y., Chen, H., Zeng, Z., Liu, X.-L., Ding, S., Zheng, Y., Huang, L., Zhu, Y., Zhang, C., 2025. A comprehensive database for high-throughput identification of archaeal lipids using high-resolution mass spectrometry. Nature Communications. doi:10.1038/s41467-025-67286-3

2.    Bale, N.J., Koenen, M., Ding, S., Sinninghe Damsté, J.S., 2025. N-Glyceroyl Alkylamine Phosphoglycolipids Dominate the Lipidome of Several Bacillota Bacteria. Systematic and Applied Microbiology 48, 126609. doi:10.2139/ssrn.5157985

3.    Dittmann, G., Ding, S., Hopmans, E.C., Schröter, S.A., Orme, A.M., Kothe, E., Lange, M., Gleixner, G., 2025. Bioavailable carbon additions to soil promote free-living nitrogen fixation and microbial biomass growth with N-free lipids. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 203, 109748. doi:10.1016/j.soilbio.2025.109748

4.    Zuffa, S., Schmid, R., Bauermeister, A., P. Gomes, …, Ding, S., Dorrestein, P.C., 2024. microbeMASST: a taxonomically informed mass spectrometry search tool for microbial metabolomics data. Nature Microbiology 9, 336–345. doi:10.1038/s41564-023-01575-9

5.    Zhang, X., Wang, Y., Wang, Z., Zhao, M., Fang, Y., Ding, S., Xiao, W., Yu, C., Wang, X., Xu, Y., 2024. Heterogenous distribution and burial flux of black carbon in Chinese lakes and its global implication. Science of The Total Environment 906, 167687. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.167687

6.    Bale, N.J., Ding, S., Hopmans, E.C., Arts, M.G.I., Villanueva, L., Boschman, C., Haas, A.F., Schouten, S., Sinninghe Damsté, J.S., 2021. Lipidomics of environmental microbial communities. I: Visualization of component distributions using untargeted analysis of high-resolution mass spectrometry data. Frontiers in Microbiology 12, 659302. doi:10.3389/fmicb.2021.659302

7.    Ruan, J., Xu, Y., Ding, S., Wang, Y., Zhang, X., 2017. A biomarker record of temperature and phytoplankton community structure in the Okinawa Trough since the last glacial maximum. Quaternary Research 88, 89–97. doi:10.1017/qua.2017.28

8.    Ruan, J., Xu, Y., Ding, S., Wang, Y., Zhang, X., 2015. A high resolution record of sea surface temperature in southern Okinawa Trough for the past 15,000 years. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 426, 209–215. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2015.03.007

9.    Zhang, X., Xu, Y., Ruan, J., Ding, S., Huang, X., 2014. Origin, distribution and environmental significance of perylene in Okinawa Trough since last glaciation maximum. Organic Geochemistry 76, 288–294. doi:10.1016/j.orggeochem.2014.09.008

10.         Wu, W., Ruan, J., Ding, S., Zhao, L., Xu, Y., Yang, H., Ding, W., Pei, Y., 2014. Source and distribution of glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers along lower Yellow River-estuary–coast transect. Marine Chemistry 158, 17–26. doi:10.1016/j.marchem.2013.11.006

 

Key conference presentations

2025   Ding, S., Bale, N.J., Cutmore, A., Hopmans, E.C., Von Meijenfeldt, F.A.B., Schouten, S., Sinninghe Damsté, J.S. Substantial contribution of in-situ produced bacterial lipids to the sedimentary lipidome. 32th International Meeting on Organic Geochemistry, Porto, Portugal. Plenary talk (大会报告)

2023   Ding, S., Von Meijenfeldt, F.A.B., Bale, N.J., Sinninghe Damsté, J.S., Villanueva, L. Coupled metalipidomics -metagenomics reveal structurally diverse sphingolipids produced by a wide variety of marine bacteria. 31th International Meeting on Organic Geochemistry, Montpellier, France. Plenary talk (大会报告)

2022   Ding, S., Grossi, V., Hopmans, E.C., Bale, N.J., Cravo-Laureau, C., Sinninghe Damsté, J.S. Changes of the lipidome composition in complex natural environments and pure cultures. 2022 Organic Geochemistry Gordon Research Conference, Holderness, NH, United States. (特邀报告)

2021   Ding, S., Bale, N.J., Hopmans, E.C., Villanueva, L., Arts, M.G.I., Schouten, S., Sinninghe Damsté, J.S. Omics of Environmental Microbial Communities. 30th International Meeting on Organic Geochemistry, Online. (大会报告)

2021   Ding, S., Bale, N.J., Hopmans, E.C., Villanueva, L., Arts, M.G.I., Schouten, S., Sinninghe Damsté, J.S. Lipidomics of Environmental Microbial Communities. Goldschmidt Conference, Lyon, France. (特邀报告)

2021   Ding, S., Bale, N.J., Hopmans, E.C., Villanueva, L., Arts, M.G.I., Schouten, S., Sinninghe Damsté, J.S. The microbial sulfur cycle driven by 1-deoxyceramide producing bacteria. the ' BioGeo -Colloquium' of the CRC 1076 AquaDiva. Jena, Germany. (特邀报告)

Teaching and supervision

2020- present doctoral student (Georg Dittmann, MPI-BGC) aboard supervisor, doctoral student (Franz Kerschhofer, ETH) aboard supervisor.

2018 Analytical Techniques in the field of biogeochemistry, one of the course lecturers (12 PhDs). Course principals: Gerd Gleixner and Georg Pohnert

2018 Instructor of the Paleoclimate experimental course (12 master students). Course principals: Gerd Gleixner

2017 The Stable Environmental Isotopes, course teaching assistant (12 PhDs). Course principals: Gerd Gleixner

Research profiles
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