THE CVETANOVIC LAB!

Dr. Marija Cvetanovic, Principal Investigator

Dr. Marija Cvetanovic received her BSc in Molecular Biology and Physiology from the University of Belgrade in 1998. She completed her PhD at the Department of Immunology, Microbiology and Virology at the University of Illinois in Chicago in 2004, studying recognition of apoptotic cells by macrophages. As a postdoctoral fellow she worked in the laboratory of Dr. Puneet Opal, exploring the molecular pathology of Purkinje neurons in the Spinocerebellar Ataxia Type1 (SCA1).

In 2012, Marija joined the Department of Neuroscience and Institute for Translational Neuroscience at the University of Minnesota as the Assistant professor. In her time away from the lab Marija enjoys to walk with her dog, June, read, rock climb, cook, watch movies, and study yoga.

Dr. Gourango Talukdar, Research Professional 5 - Preclinical Researcher

Dr. Gourango Talukdar is a researcher who joined Dr. Marija Cvetanovic’s laboratory in August 2024. His research focuses on understanding the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying neurodegeneration, with particular emphasis on glial cell biology, protein homeostasis, and disease-associated pathways. He is also interested in research on myelin disorders.

He completed his Bachelor and Master’s degrees in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at University of Rajshahi, Bangladesh. He also completed his PhD in Molecular Neuroscience from the University of Toyama, Japan in 2017. He worked as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Primeasia University, Bangladesh. He was also a Postdoctoral fellow of Dr.Wensheng Lin and Dr. Harry Orr’s laboratory respectively from 2019 to 2024. He likes to play soccer, cricket, table tennis, and volleyball during his leisure time.

Dr. Francisco "Emmanuel" Labrada Moncada,
Research Professional 5 - Preclinical Researcher

Dr. Mekala Gunasekaran,
Research Professional 4 - Preclinical research

Emmanuel started as a postdoc in the Cvetanovic Lab in spring of 2022, bringing expertise in calcium imaging and fiber photometry to the lab which he perfected under his previous mentor Alfonso Araque. When he's not in lab devising cool strategies for understanding the interactions between purkinje cells and bergmann glia, you can bet he's off playing with his adorable husky.

Dr. Mekala Gunasekaran has been a researcher at Dr.Marija Cvetanovic’s laboratory since March of 2026. She is passionate about studying the cellular/molecular biology processes and understanding the molecular signaling pathways of neurodegenerative diseases. Her work primarily involves generation of iPSC derived cerebellar organoids.

She finished her Bachelor’s in Biomedical Engineering from India. She then completed her Master’s in Biomedicine from Sweden. She earned her PhD from the Friedrich Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg in Germany. She was a Postdoctoral associate of Dr. Kang’s lab from 2021-2025 at the University of Minnesota. Outside of the lab, she is interested in hearing music and reading.