Dominique C. Bergmann is a

plant scientist Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

with a specific focus on

developmental biology Developmental biology is the study of the process by which animals and plants grow and develop. Developmental biology also encompasses the biology of Regeneration (biology), regeneration, asexual reproduction, metamorphosis, and the growth and di ...

and

plant biology Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek wo ...

. Correspondingly, she is a professor of Biology at Stanford University and is in association with the Stanford Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine. Additionally, Bergmann is also an Investigator of the

Howard Hughes Medical Institute The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) is an American non-profit medical research organization based in Chevy Chase, Maryland. It was founded in 1953 by Howard Hughes, an American business magnate, investor, record-setting pilot, engineer, fil ...

. For the last several years she has been a Gordon and Betty Moore HHMI funded researcher.

Academic life

Bergmann was born and raised in east Pennsylvania, but she soon migrated West in order to pursue her dreams of studying developmental and plant biology at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, where she completed her Bachelor of Arts in molecular and cellular biology, in 1993. After moving to

University of Colorado Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a public research university in Boulder, Colorado. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a state, it is the flagship university of the University of Colorado syst ...

, she began to study the development in

C. elegans ''Caenorhabditis elegans'' () is a free-living transparent nematode about 1 mm in length that lives in temperate soil environments. It is the type species of its genus. The name is a blend of the Greek ''caeno-'' (recent), ''rhabditis'' (r ...

and later went on to graduate with a PhD in

animal biology ''Animal Biology'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal in the field of zoology. It is the official journal of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Dierkundige Vereniging (Royal Dutch Zoological Society) and published on behalf of the society by Brill Pub ...

, in 2000. She quickly developed an interest in the science of ''

Arabidopsis ''Arabidopsis'' (rockcress) is a genus in the family Brassicaceae. They are small flowering plants related to cabbage and mustard. This genus is of great interest since it contains thale cress (''Arabidopsis thaliana''), one of the model organi ...

'' whilst working as a post-doc at the

Carnegie Institution The Carnegie Institution of Washington (the organization's legal name), known also for public purposes as the Carnegie Institution for Science (CIS), is an organization in the United States established to fund and perform scientific research. Th ...

, Department of Plant Biology. She is a member of the Editorial Board for ''

PNAS ''Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America'' (often abbreviated ''PNAS'' or ''PNAS USA'') is a peer-reviewed multidisciplinary scientific journal. It is the official journal of the National Academy of Scien ...

''.

Inspiration

Claiming that she was not a "young naturalist", Bergmann was much more interested in constructing things, exploding things and launching things into the air. After later becoming intrigued by the idea of Biology (Biochemistry in particular), she knew that she had uncovered the right balance between experimental accuracy and real-life effect, so she decided to take things further and study molecular genetics.

Current Research

Focusing specifically on "Asymmetry, Fate and Renewal in Plant Development" , Bergmann uses the development of stomata as a model to study

cell fate Within the field of developmental biology, one goal is to understand how a particular cell develops into a final cell type, known as fate determination. Within an embryo, several processes play out at the cellular and tissue level to create an organ ...

, th
self renewal
of stem cells and

cell polarity Cell polarity refers to spatial differences in shape, structure, and function within a cell. Almost all cell types exhibit some form of polarity, which enables them to carry out specialized functions. Classical examples of polarized cells are desc ...

in plants. Bergmann, along with her team (collectively known as "The Bergmann Lab"), use a large variety of genetic,

genomic Genomics is an interdisciplinary field of biology focusing on the structure, function, evolution, mapping, and editing of genomes. A genome is an organism's complete set of DNA, including all of its genes as well as its hierarchical, three-dim ...

and imaging methods to inquire into different variations of cell development, and they are also examining

gene expression Gene expression is the process by which information from a gene is used in the synthesis of a functional gene product that enables it to produce end products, protein or non-coding RNA, and ultimately affect a phenotype, as the final effect. The ...

in singular cells. Through their research, their goal is to uncover the differing elements in nature that ensure that cells can restore themselves and create utile final products. This specific work will help to shed light on how plants are capable of redirecting growth in the image of damage or environmental transformations.

Awards and honours

Bergmann won the

American Society of Plant Biologists American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

Charles Schull Award Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was "f ...

in 2010. Also in 2010, Bergmann was an Obama-era recipient of the

Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers The Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) is the highest honor bestowed by the United States government on outstanding scientists and engineers in the early stages of their independent research careers. The White ...

. and subsequently won a prize for it. She was also newly elected into the

National Academy of Sciences The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...

in 2017.

References

American women botanists American botanists Stanford University School of Medicine faculty University of Colorado Boulder alumni Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women {{Botanist-stub