Welcome to my website

​I'm Manuel Luján and I consider myself a tropical botanist.
All of my earliest memories are plant-related, I've always been amazed by the diversity of shapes and colors that plants can display. My first academic mentor and dear friend taught me that in life you have to do what you enjoy and try to make a living out of it. Fortunately, I have managed to keep looking at plants, studying them and admiring their wonderful diversity. Here I share notes on my past and current research as well as updates on future projects.
Enjoy!

​Australian Cycas, genomics and drones

A new project is taking shape in collaboration with Nathalie Nagalingum. We are developing an exciting research to study population genomics of endangered Australia species Cycas. We are using cutting-edge technology both in the field and in the lab to unravel the genetic diversity of this ancient lineage of plants and provide resources that may be useful in conservation efforts. More information coming soon...

 
Field work update

We are back after three weeks exploring the wonderful Australian back country! Along with my wonderful collaborators Sarah Crews (https://sarahnopidae.com/) and Patrick Griffith from Montgomery Botanical Center, I successfully sampled multiple populations of five Cycas species, including very rare taxa only known from a couple of localities.
​We collected leaf tissue for genomic analyses and seeds for ex situ conservation. I got to shot some aerial footage that will help me to estimate population demographics, check it out:

We are really excited to process the genomic and spatial distribution data we are gathering so they can be used for conservation purposes. Stay tuned.

Get in touch:

ABOUT ME

I'm native of Venezuela, passionate about tropical plants, biodiversity, conservation and science communication.
I'm married to a wonderful woman and I'm the proud father of two amazing kids

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