Associate Researcher, Psychiatry & Human Behavior
School of Medicine

Genetics Depression Neuroanatomy Suicide Molecular Biology

Della Martin Fellow 2006-2011

Dr. Adolfo Sequeira works in the Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior in the School of Medicine. His lab explores the genetic and molecular basis of neuropsychiatric disorders. They focus on major depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. They also study the involvement of stress response alterations at the molecular level in suicide.

2019 Reviewer, UC MEXUS-CONACYT Review Committee
2017 Reviewer, UC MEXUS-CONACYT Review Committee
2016 Reviewer, NIMH Neural Basis of Psychopathology, Addictions and Sleep Disorders (NPAS) Study Section
2015 Reviewer, NIMH Neural Basis of Psychopathology, Addictions and Sleep Disorders (NPAS) Study Section
2009 NARSAD-Young Investigator Award
2009 Brain Star Award, Canadian Institutes of Health Research
2008 Travel Award, American College of Neuropsychopharmacology
2006 Della Martin Fellowship, Psychiatry and Human Behavior, UCI
2006 Brain Star Award, Canadian Institutes of Health Research
2005 Best abstract-oral presentation, Montréal Microarray Symposium
2004 Best Poster Award, Montréal Microarray Symposium
2002 PhD Scholarship, Québec Health Research Fund
2002 Second place poster, Mental Health Network Meeting
2001 Training Award, Suicide Axis, Québec Health Research Award

Universite du Quebec, Montreal BSc 1998 Molecular biology
Montreal University, Montreal MSc 2001 Neurosciences
McGill University, Montreal PhD 2007 Human Genetics
University of California, Irvine Post-doc 2011 Psychiatry and Human Behavior

Mamdani F, Rollins B, Morgan L, Myers RM, Barchas JD, Schatzberg AF, Watson SJ, Akil H, Potkin SG, Bunney WE, Vawter MP, Sequeira PA. Variable telomere length across post-mortem human brain regions and specific reduction in the hippocampus of major depressive disorder. Transl Psychiatry. 2016 Dec 6;6(12):e969. doi: 10.1038/tp.2015.164. PMID: 27922633.

Morgan LZ, Rollins B, Sequeira A, Byerley W, DeLisi LE, Schatzberg AF, Barchas JD, Myers RM, Watson SJ, Akil H, Bunney WE Jr, Vawter MP.Quantitative Trait Locus and Brain Expression of HLA-DPA1 Offers Evidence of Shared Immune Alterations in Psychiatric Disorders. Microarrays (Basel). 2016 Mar;5(1). pii: 6. Epub 2016 Mar 7.

Limon A, Mamdani F, Hjelm BE, Vawter MP, Sequeira A. Targets of polyamine dysregulation in major depression and suicide: Activity-dependent feedback, excitability, and neurotransmission. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2016 Apr 22;66:80-91. doi: 10.1016/j.neubiorev.2016.04.010. [Epub ahead of print] Review.

Rollins BL, Morgan L, Hjelm BE, Sequeira A, Schatzberg AF, Barchas JD, Lee FS, Myers RM, Watson SJ, Akil H, Potkin SG, Bunney WE, Vawter MP. Mitochondrial Complex I Deficiency in Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder and Medication Influence. Mol Neuropsychiatry. 2018 Feb;3(3):157-169. doi: 10.1159/000484348. Epub 2017 Nov 30. PMID: 29594135.

Gonçalves VF, Cappi C, Hagen CM, Sequeira A, Vawter MP, Derkach A, Zai CC, Hedley PL, Bybjerg-Grauholm J, Pouget JG, Cuperfain AB, Sullivan PF, Christiansen M, Kennedy JL, Sun L. A Comprehensive Analysis of Nuclear-Encoded Mitochondrial Genes in Schizophrenia. Biol Psychiatry. 2018 May 1;83(9):780-789. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2018.02.1175. Epub 2018 Mar 15. PMID: 29628042.

Rajamani U, Gross AR, Hjelm BE, Sequeira A, Vawter MP, Tang J, Gangalapudi V, Wang Y, Andres AM, Gottlieb RA, Sareen D. Super-Obese Patient-Derived iPSC Hypothalamic Neurons Exhibit Obesogenic Signatures and Hormone Responses. Cell Stem Cell. 2018 May 3;22(5):698-712.e9. doi: 10.1016/j.stem.2018.03.009. Epub 2018 Apr 19.

Le-Niculescu H, Roseberry K, Levey DF, Rogers J, Kosary K, Prabha S, Jones T, Judd S, McCormick MA, Wessel AR, Williams A, Phalen PL, Mamdani F, Sequeira A, Kurian SM, Niculescu AB. Towards precision medicine for stress disorders: diagnostic biomarkers and targeted drugs. Mol Psychiatry. 2019 Mar 12. doi: 10.1038/s41380-019-0370-z. [Epub ahead of print].

Hjelm BE, Rollins B, Morgan L, Sequeira A, Mamdani F, Pereira F, Damas J, Webb MG, Weber MD, Schatzberg AF, Barchas JD, Lee FS, Akil H, Watson SJ, Myers RM, Chao EC, Kimonis V, Thompson PM, Bunney WE, Vawter MP. Splice-Break: exploiting an RNA-seq splice junction algorithm to discover mitochondrial DNA deletion breakpoints and analyses of psychiatric disorders. Nucleic Acids Res. 2019 Mar 14. pii: gkz164. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkz164. [Epub ahead of print].

Lallai V, Grimes N, Fowler JP, Sequeira PA, Cartagena P, Limon A, Nicotine Acts on Cholinergic Signaling Mechanisms to Directly Modulate Choroid Plexus Function. Coutts M, Monuki ES, Bunney W, Demuro A, Fowler CD.eNeuro. 2019 Apr 23;6(2). pii: ENEURO.0051-19.2019. doi: 10.1523/ENEURO.0051-19.2019. eCollection 2019 Mar-Apr. PMID: 31119189.

Sequeira A, Shen K, Gottlieb A, Limon A. Human brain transcriptome analysis finds region- and subject-specific expression signatures of GABAAR subunits. Commun Biol. 2019 May 1;2:153. doi: 10.1038/s42003-019-0413-7. eCollection 2019. PMID: 31069263.

Limon A, Delbruck E, Yassine A, Pandya D, Myers RM, Barchas JD, Lee F, Schatzberg, Watson SJ, Akil H, Bunney WE, Vawter MP, Sequeira A. Electrophysiological evaluation of extracellular spermine and alkaline pH on synaptic human GABAA receptors. Transl Psychiatry. 2019 Sep 5;9(1):218. doi: 10.1038/s41398-019-0551-1. PMID: 31488811.

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (4/1/2020-3/21/2022): Comparison of brain and blood suicide signatures: From mechanisms to biomarkers. Role: Principal Investigator Tobacco-Related Disease Research Program of California (TRDRP) High Impact Pilot Award (2019-2021): Smoking in Bipolar Disorder: Contribution of Genomics and Sensory Gating. Role: Co-Investigator National Institute of Mental Health (2/1/17-1/31/19): Multidimensional Analysis of Synaptic Dysfunction In Schizophrenia. R21 MH113177. Role: Co-Investigator. National Institute of Mental Health (12/15/15-11/30/20): Mitochondrial Dysfunction In Schizophrenia. R01 MH097082. Role: Co-Investigator. National Institute of Mental Health (07/05/12 – 04/30/16): Metallothioneins and polyamines in major depression and suicide. R01 MH097082. Role: Principal Investigator. Pritzker Family Philanthropic Fund (02/01/16 - 01/31/21). Role: Co-Investigator National Institute of Mental Health (07/01/09 - 03/31/13): Mitochondrial Abnormalities in Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder. No-cost extension R01 MH-08580. Role: Co- Investigator. Allen Institute for Brain Science: Human Transcriptome Map (2008-2013). Role: Co-Principal Investigator. Brain and Behavior Research Foundation (NARSAD)(01/01/10-12/31/12): Young Investigator Award. Role: Principal Investigator. Della Martin Foundation (2006-2-11): Fellowship, Department of Psychiatry and human behavior.

Project Scientist
UCI 2011—2015

Pritzker Neuropsychiatric Disease Research Foundation

Link to this profile
https://faculty.uci.edu/profile/?facultyId=6968

Last updated
05/05/2022