Meet the Group
Principal Investigator
Cecilia Zumajo-Cardona
Principal Investigator
Welcome to the Zumajo-Cardona Lab at NYBG!
I am an Assistant Curator at NYBG working on Evo-Devo of seed plants.
For my research I use classical morpho-anatomical approaches, with up to date tools that can be implemented in non model species mostly.
I use different programming languages such as Bash, AWK and Python, that are of great help for analyzing the transcriptome data.
Do not hesitate to contact me,
Assistant curator at the Laboratory for Integrative Biodiversity Research.
The New York Botanical Garden
czumajo@nybg.org
Lab Members
Emma Luther
NYU Master student
Emma is working on project that studies the spatiotemporal expression of the gene, LEAFY, as well as its target genes GGM3, GGM2 and GGM15 (B and C type genes) within the reproductive cones of Gnetum gnemon. Utilizing in situ hybridization, we can compare our findings to previous studies focused on other gymnosperm species, which allows us to better understand the role of LEAFY in reproductive structure development.
Keguang Cheng
NYU Master student
Keguang Master’s is on the transcriptomic analyses of the aquatic plant Podostemum ceratophyllum. By doing a through bioinformatic analysis of the our own generated RNAseq, Keguang aims to have a better molecular understanding of the complex identity of the different tissues that form this enigmatic plant.
This project is in collaboration with Dr. Ana Bedoya (NYBG)
Yihe Yu
NYU Master student
For her Masters’ in Biology (with emphasis in computational biology) Yihe is studying the molecular toolkit involved in the flower development of Chloranthus, by analyzing published and our own generated transcriptomes. Her project also takes advantage of the genomes available for this plant family to dive deep in the molecular regulations behind floral reductions.
Ormary Alvarez
SciNet Intern
Ormary is our senior intern, she knows a varity of laboratory techniques, and is helping us in the development of serveral projects, including Wollemia seed development and also to digitize our NYBG Seed colection!
Ellasun Chamberlain
SciNet Intern
Ellasun is leading our project on callose accumulation in the tissues of Arabidopsis in response to cold stress. Subsequently testing the callose accumulation in leaves, by doing the staining with aniline blue, and quantifying with ImageJ.
Addditonally, whe has extensive experience in all our different microscopes: SEM, Light microscopy and laser microscope. She has helped in several projects in our lab.
This project is in collaboration with Dr. Francesca Vallese (CUNY-ASRC)
Lyla Quim
SciNet Intern
Lyla is a rising senior at Bronx High School of Science and a SciNet intern who is leading our project on the Chloranthus flower development. In the lab she takes advantage of several microscopy techniques: Scanning Electron microscopy (SEM) to observe the morphology of her samples and she uses light microscopy to observe the thin anatomical sections she creates with the microtome.
Ethan Harry
TAFT Summer intern 2025 and 2026
Ethan is a rising junior at The Taft School. This summer, he will study the expression of floral genes in reduced flowers of Chloranthus using PCR and gel electrophoresis. His goal is to understand how these genes are present, highlighted, or repressed. While running the PCR experiments, Ethan will also lead the lab’s science dissemination efforts through the website, blog posts, and videos.
