Life after GIGA #7 David Bergemann

Since March 2020, David Bergemann is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Cardiovascular Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School at Boston. After defending his PhD in the laboratory of Zebrafish Development and Disease Models, in Isabelle Manfroid's Team in 2018, he completed his training with a course in Bioinformatics. Thanks to Alexandra Veloso, another former GIGA member working in Harvard too, he hears about his current position for which his main goal is to establish knowledge to pave the way towards designing therapeutic strategies that could stimulate regeneration in humans.

"Life after GIGA", a new series that you will find every other Friday on our facebook page or our instagram account. The purpose of these portraits is to take news of the "old" but also to show the diversity of the courses after a passage at GIGA. You will be able to read the interview of people now working abroad (temporarily or permanently), people working in other universities or in the private sector. This week, it's David Bergemann's turn to tell us about his "life after GIGA" ...Thank you David to answer to our questions from Boston !

Can you introduce yourself and tell us about your current position?

My name is David Bergemann, I am a PhD in Molecular and Cellular Biology and my main research interests revolve around regenerative Biology. I am a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Cardiovascular Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School (Boston). I work in Dr. Juan Manuel González-Rosa's lab where we focus on deciphering mechanisms that would allow us to stimulate cardiac regeneration.

While it is said that time heals all wounds, and that might hold true for a certain type of "broken hearts", that unfortunately does not apply to the physically injured heart resulting from cardiovascular disease. Indeed, the adult human heart lacks the ability to regenerate its cardiac tissue and instead forms a scar that is never resolved. This scar hinders the proper function of the heart, which ultimately leads to heart failure.

To study heart regeneration and identify mechanisms that humans lack, I work with a little freshwater fish –the zebrafish–, which is able to naturally regenerate its heart following injury. In very simple words, I try to identify what differences between us and the zebrafish make him a master in terms of organ regeneration (because the heart is not the only organ that this little guy can regenerate). My main goal is to establish knowledge to pave the way towards designing therapeutic strategies that could stimulate regeneration in humans.

What has been your career path so far?

At the time of my studies at University of Liège, I was very interested in cancer biology and immunology, and I had chosen the Master with in-depth approach in Cancerology and Immunology in which I graduated in 2013. The initial plan for my Master's thesis was to establish a new model of pancreatic cancer in Zebrafish. But…long story short, when I had my first meetings to build that project inside of my host laboratory, the ZDDM (Zebrafish Development and Disease Models)–formerly BMGG–, I met Dr. Isabelle Manfroid who convinced me to join the "regeneration side". Isabelle transmitted to me the passion of using the zebrafish as a model organism to study regeneration. I characterized the fish lines and established the protocols that would become the cornerstones of my PhD thesis, which I also completed under her supervision in Fall 2018.

My doctoral research was about the regeneration of beta cells, the cells that produce insulin, the hormone that regulates your blood sugar levels (glycemia). Beta cells are irreversibly lost in Type 1 Diabetes, leaving patients completely dependent on insulin therapy. And guess what?... Not only does the zebrafish possesses beta cells, but most importantly it is able to regenerate those in a couple of weeks in order to restore normal glycemia. My work provided evidence that ductal cells of the pancreas act as a progenitor population and the signaling pathways I identified are under scrutiny in Dr. Manfroid’s lab for their ability to modulate regenerative capacity.

After defending my Ph.D., I completed my training with a course in Bioinformatics organized by the FOREM at the GIGA. Following some reflection regarding which trajectory I wanted to take for the rest of my career, I decided to expand my horizon with a postdoctoral experience abroad. One of my friends, Alexandra Veloso (also a former GIGA member - who was at the Gene and Expression Cancer Laboratory - Franck Dequiedt's team), was already doing her postdoc at MGH and I asked her about an open position I had seen in the same research center. Funny enough, she told me about another position, which eventually is the one that got me here. I had read some of Dr. González-Rosa’s pioneering work on heart regeneration in the zebrafish; he had just established his own lab and was looking for a postdoc to join him. After the first interview, it was clear to me that this was the position that would allow me to do amazing science while being under the mentorship of a great mind and human being. I ended up getting the position and am happy to be part of his team since March 2020.

Is your current position in keeping with what you did at the GIGA?

Except for the fact that I switched organs, I am still looking closely at how the zebrafish can regenerate injured tissue/cells. I would say that I am very much in keeping with my interest for regenerative biology and the zebrafish as an animal model.

What do you particularly enjoy in your current position?

I enjoy the cutting-edge science that we do here, the amount I learn, and the fact that we transform our ideas into experiments (almost) without boundaries. For example, Juanma (contraction of Juan Manuel), my current mentor, has a tremendous expertise in the design and generation of complex transgenic zebrafish lines. I learned a lot from him, and what seemed like a long journey to undertake (creating a zebrafish line) has now become a routine. I love having the idea of a new transgenic line, discuss it and then having the freedom to generate it, see it grow a couple of weeks later and obtain our first results!

In what ways is your work experience at the GIGA useful to you in your current position?

The GIGA is truly an amazing research center with a lot of resources. Beyond all the skills that I learned through my lab and the access to all the equipment of the different platforms; being exposed to a lot of different research topics and people really forged an ability to think outside of the box and to integrate new things into the science I do. I was also Isabelle Manfroid’s first PhD student, which gave me the opportunity to be involved in the building process of a new project/lab, an experience that I am repeating now as the first postdoc in the González-Rosa lab. I do enjoy the challenge that comes with it. I am also very grateful for the mentoring provided by Isabelle, who always sought to bring the best out of me. I often remember her saying to me "accept that you may not be able to accomplish everything that you wanted to in a day".

What are your good memories of the GIGA?

I have a lot of great memories at the GIGA. I cannot count the numerous coffee breaks that were dedicated to talking science, philosophy and music with amazing people that were from the surrounding labs. GIGA is really a lot about the people… whenever I would have to change floors or cross buildings to go use specific equipment or drop off a sample at a platform, I knew that I would end up having a slice of conversation that would cheer up my day.

But the GIGA is still quite present in the building in which I work: Justine Bellier (who was at the Metastases Research Laboratory - Akeila Bellahcène's team), Alexandra Veloso and I sometimes have a coffee break, perpetuating traditions!

You are in the US for almost two years now. What is your experience living there?

Arriving in the US has been a little bit of a bumpy ride at the beginning, as I landed here a few days before the pandemic forced us into lockdown. I had to cope with adapting to new surroundings without really being able to explore them, which has made for some fun story material! I am glad that I knew Alex Veloso and that soon after my arrival, Pierre Foidart (another former GIGA member - who was at the laboratory of Biology of Tumors and Development - Agnès Noël's team) reached out to me; I would probably have been very lonely if it weren’t for them.

Boston is really an amazing place to live, especially as a scientist, because we are surrounded by some of the greatest minds in our field and a lot of companies that are active in the life sciences.  

How do you see your career developing in the coming years?

I plan to stay here for a couple more years and make the most out of my postdoc experience. After that, I don’t have a straight plan lined out (does that even still exist in academia?), but I would love to lead my own research group! The “where” will depend on the opportunities available at that point it time, although I would definitely love to come back to the GIGA.There is a very well equipped zebrafish facility at the GIGA and I would love to convince all the research groups of the amazing research one can accomplish with this model.

Harvard-MIT Belgian Society (HMBS)

David and Alexandra Veloso are also board members of the Harvard-MIT Belgian Society (HMBS) which aims at being a resource for Belgian researchers and visitors in Boston as well as promoting Belgian culture. If you would like to reach out, you can find further information on the website of the HMBS : https://harvardmitbelgiansociety.org/

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