Alejandro Meruelo * UCSD Profiles

Alejandro Meruelo

Title(s)	Assistant Adjunct Professor, Psychiatry
School	Health Sciences
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Biography

Education and Training

California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA	B.S.	06/2006	Physics
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA	M.D., Ph.D.	06/2014	Medicine, Molecular and Structural Biology
UCSD, San Diego, CA	Residency	06/2018	Psychiatry

Overview

Biography

Dr. Meruelo earned a B.S. with honors in Physics from the California Institute of Technology in 2006, his Ph.D. in Molecular and Structural Biology from UCLA in 2012, and his M.D. from UCLA's David Geffen School of Medicine in 2014. He completed Adult Psychiatry Residency training in 2018 and a postdoctoral research fellowship at UCSD in 2019. He received a 2016 NIMH Outstanding Resident Award, 2018 Judd Research Award, and 2019 Career Development Institute for Psychiatry Award during this time.

Research Interests

Dr. Meruelo’s laboratory focuses on integrating neuroimaging, computational methods, and advanced statistics to extricate the complex relationship between mood disorders and substance use. He has published papers on adolescent brain development and cognition, in addition to the impact of alcohol and cannabis use on the developing brain. His studies are currently funded through a K23 from the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

Clinical Focus

Dr. Meruelo provides Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation to adults suffering from treatment-resistant depression, in addition to treating depressive, anxiety, psychotic, and bipolar disorders.

Interests

Alcohol, Depression, Adolescence

Research

Research Activities and Funding

Adolescent Markers of Depression and the Impact of Alcohol Use
NIH/NIAAA K23AA026869Jun 1, 2019 - May 31, 2024
Role: Principal Investigator

Discovery of SAM domain functions
NIH/NIGMS F31GM089143Aug 1, 2009 - Jul 31, 2012
Role: Principal Investigator

ORNG Applications

Websites

Bibliographic

Publications

Publications listed below are automatically derived from MEDLINE/PubMed and other sources, which might result in incorrect or missing publications. Researchers can login to make corrections and additions, or contact us for help.

List All | Timeline

Meruelo AD, Jacobus J, Idy E, Nguyen-Louie T, Brown G, Tapert SF. Early adolescent brain markers of late adolescent academic functioning. Brain Imaging Behav. 2019 Aug; 13(4):945-952. PMID: 29911279.

View in: PubMed
Meruelo AD, Castro N, Cota CI, Tapert SF. Cannabis and alcohol use, and the developing brain. Behav Brain Res. 2017 05 15; 325(Pt A):44-50. PMID: 28223098.

View in: PubMed
Jacobus J, Squeglia LM, Infante MA, Castro N, Brumback T, Meruelo AD, Tapert SF. Neuropsychological performance in adolescent marijuana users with co-occurring alcohol use: A three-year longitudinal study. Neuropsychology. 2015 Nov; 29(6):829-843. PMID: 25938918.

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Jacobus J, Squeglia LM, Meruelo AD, Castro N, Brumback T, Giedd JN, Tapert SF. Cortical thickness in adolescent marijuana and alcohol users: A three-year prospective study from adolescence to young adulthood. Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2015 Dec; 16:101-109. PMID: 25953106.

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Meruelo AD, Han SK, Kim S, Bowie JU. Structural differences between thermophilic and mesophilic membrane proteins. Protein Sci. 2012 Nov; 21(11):1746-53. PMID: 23001966.

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Meruelo AD, Samish I, Bowie JU. TMKink: a method to predict transmembrane helix kinks. Protein Sci. 2011 Jul; 20(7):1256-64. PMID: 21563225.

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Meruelo AD, Bowie JU. Identifying polymer-forming SAM domains. Proteins. 2009 Jan; 74(1):1-5. PMID: 18831011.

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Hwang BJ, Meruelo AD, Sternberg PW. C. elegans EVI1 proto-oncogene, EGL-43, is necessary for Notch-mediated cell fate specification and regulates cell invasion. Development. 2007 Feb; 134(4):669-79. PMID: 17215301.

View in: PubMed