During the month of July 2007, Montgomery Botanical Center (MBC) hosted graduate student Dánae Cabrera in MBC’s Arthur Montgomery Guesthouse. Ms. Cabrera is using MBC’s collections in a parallel project of her Ph.D. research, focusing on the systematics and population genetics of cycads.
Ms. Cabrera is associated with the Instituto de Ecología A.C., Xalapa, Veracruz, México. Dr. Andrew Vovides, México’s leading cycad researcher and longtime Montgomery Botanical collaborator, is her graduate advisor.
While here, Ms Cabrera worked with Dr. Javier Francisco-Ortega in the Florida International University/Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden Plant Molecular Systematics and Conservation Lab. She was trained in the use of a molecular marker (ISSR) for Dioon genetic studies.
With this project, Montgomery Botanical Center, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, and the Instituto de Ecología continue their history of collaborating on cycad research.