Mariska is a skilled technician in analytical and organic chemistry and she also has her Bachelors degree of Education for chemistry and physics for middle school. 
In the organic geochemistry lab she extracts, process and analyzes lipid biomarkers. These lipid biomarkers are specific organic molecules that can be traced back to their source organism or the environment in which they are produced. In this lab they are extracted directly from biomass, or from soils, marine and lake sediments from all kinds of geographic regions and of geological age. With this information we can reconstruct temperature from past to present.
Besides this, Mariska also helps students in the lab to master the skills needed to do their own research with confidence.