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Dr. Bergman is an Associate Professor in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. He was trained as an integrative physiologist at the University of California Berkeley, where he received his PhD in exercise physiology with an emphasis in exercise biochemistry. His doctoral work investigated how endurance exercise training changes glucose, fat, and lactate metabolism during exercise. He went to the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center for a post-doctoral fellowship in Jim Hill's laboratory, where he investigated the interaction of exercise, obesity, and insulin action. During his post-doctoral studies, he became interested in the link between metabolic alterations and insulin resistance in humans. After receiving an NIH K award, Dr. Bergman moved to Dr. Robert Eckel’s laboratory at UC Denver where he studied the relationship between intramuscular lipids and insulin sensitivity.

Dr. Bergman’s research investigates the relationship between intramuscular lipids and insulin sensitivity. His laboratory is focused on elucidating the “athletes paradox” which describes how athletes have a high amount of intramuscular lipid but are insulin sensitive – which is opposite that found in individuals with type 2 diabetes. By studying these two populations with similar intramuscular triglyceride content, but dichotomous sensitivity to insulin, Dr. Bergman hopes to uncover how intramuscular lipid is related to insulin sensitivity. Dr. Bergman is currently funded by an NIH R01 and R03. In two separate studies, his laboratory found that saturated diacylglycerol was positively related to insulin resistance. As a result, his laboratory is investigating if saturated diacylglycerol in skeletal muscle plays a role in promoting the insulin resistant state in humans. Specifically, they are measuring the intracellular location, and molecular species of diacylglycerol, which describes the fatty acid on the first and second carbon of the glycerol backbone. Their laboratory is finding that both the intracellular location, and the molecular species of diacylglycerol are individually related to insulin resistance. Dr. Bergman’s laboratory is also pursuing mechanistic relationships between intramuscular lipids and insulin sensitivity using primary muscle cell culture. This model is unique the phenotype of the primary muscle cells matches the phenotype of the donor. They are pursuing cell culture studies to determine potential mechanisms underlying the relationship between saturated muscle lipids and insulin sensitivity. The overall goal of Dr. Bergman’s research is to uncover how ectopic lipid storage is related to insulin resistance - to uncover novel therapeutic targets to help prevent and treat pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes.