From Memory to Medicine: Gabe Holguin’s Path Through Neuroscience and Addiction Research

“What originally drew me into neuroscience was growing up with my grandma having Alzheimer’s disease. It became a personal motivator,” says neuroscientist Gabe Holguin, a postdoctoral researcher at Scripps Research. “I wanted to understand what exactly was going on in the brain that leads to the deterioration of memory, and to learn the physiological mechanisms underlying this disease.”

When Gabe reflects on how he found his way into neuroscience, he begins with memory.

“I got really into neuroscience when I took an undergraduate biopsychology course,” he says. “I fell in love with the memory aspect, and how the brain develops new, stronger neural connections that support learning and memory. I now see the brain as a time machine, allowing us to mentally travel back in time and experience past events.”

That early fascination stayed with him through graduate school, where he pursued questions about how the brain encodes time, space, and experience. Later, it also led him somewhere unexpected: drug addiction research.

Now at Scripps Research in San Diego, Gabe works in the lab of Dr. Remi Martin-Fardon, studying stress-induced relapse and the potential of using existing medications as a novel therapy to prevent it.

Investigating Relapse and Recovery

“I work with Dr. Remi Martin-Fardon, and we investigate stress-related neuropeptides that contribute to alcohol and drug addiction,” Gabe says. “We examine how substances like alcohol, oxycodone, and cocaine change neuropeptide systems in the brain, and how we can repair them with novel pharmacotherapies."

The lab’s central question is what happens after substance use stops, with a focus on preventing relapse triggered by stress. “We’re interested in preventing relapse of drugs and alcohol provoked by stress,” he explains, adding that the team is “specifically examining whether suvorexant, an insomnia medication, can prevent or blunt a return to alcohol or drug use after stress exposure.”

The reason suvorexant may help with relapse lies in the brain’s orexin system. “It blocks the orexin receptor,” Gabe says. “Orexin is a neuropeptide that drives motivation and arousal, and it plays an essential role in stress and reward seeking. By blocking that system, we hope to reduce stress-associated cravings after discontinued use of alcohol and other drugs.”

The lab is also exploring how alcohol and substance dependence affect sleep. “We just wrapped up a project looking at EEG brain wave activity associated with alcohol dependence,” Gabe says. “The orexin neuropeptide system becomes disrupted after alcohol dependence, which we predict will dysregulate EEG brain wave activity that is important for normative sleep. Our goal is to reverse this disruption with suvorexant, which should repair the orexin system, leading to better sleep and diminish alcohol relapse following stress.”

From Alzheimer’s to the Neural Basis of Memory

Although he now studies addiction, Gabe’s scientific roots are in memory research.

“My grandma had Alzheimer’s disease when I was a kid,” he says. “As an adult, my father was also diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, which has further reinforced my personal and professional interest in studying the brain.”

That personal connection pushed him toward neuroscience and later into clinical work. During his master’s training, he worked in neuropsychological testing with patients experiencing dementia. “I was working in a clinic administering neuropsychological batteries to patients with dementia and other cognitive deficits,” he says, describing tests that measure memory, attention, executive function, and other cognitive abilities. “I was also fortunate to use materials from the neuropsychological clinic in my masters thesis study, where I examined cognitive abilities among individuals with a family history of Alzheimer’s disease.”

For his PhD at the University of Arizona, he moved from clinical testing to recording activity directly from the brain. “There, I looked at the activity of single neurons associated with memory,” he says. “We recorded from groups of brain cells in the hippocampus as rats completed spatial and temporal behaviors. Our objective was learning how these neurons encode the passage of time during a fine-motor reaching and grasping task.”

That work connected back to a major question in memory research: how the brain lets people mentally revisit past experiences. “We believe that these special cells help to construct the spatial and temporal properties of our experiences, which form episodic memory,” Gabe says. “Ultimately, these hippocampal neurons enable us to travel back in time and relive experiences from our past.”

Pivoting Into Pharmacology

After finishing his PhD, Gabe decided he wanted to move in a new direction.

“I had no experience in the world of pharmacology, but I really wanted to pivot into drug research after my PhD,” he says. “I connected with an old colleague from California State University San Marcos, who connected me to a former Scripps postdoc, Francisco. Francisco then connected me to Dr. Martin-Fardon, whose lab I ended up joining!”

The move brought him back to a city he loves. “I’m from California, and this position brought me back here. So it was really just a perfect, serendipitous connection.”

His long-term goal is to work at the intersection of science and communication. “I really want to explore medical affairs,” he says. “There’s a position called a medical science liaison.” In that role, he explains, “you serve as the scientific bridge between a company and the healthcare community. You’d engage with physicians, clinicians, and pharmacists, attend conferences, and present clinical and research data. It’s really focused on translating complex science into clear, meaningful concepts and building relationships with experts in the field.”

“That’s kind of my future dream job right now,” he says.

The Joy of Discovery — and of Mentorship

When asked what he is most proud of in his career so far, Gabe doesn’t point first to a publication or a technical achievement.

“I’d say the little things like helping students. Helping and inspiring undergrad students has been the most gratifying part of it all,” he says.

That sense of purpose began when he was teaching. “Teaching was one of my favorite jobs of all time. I fell in love with motivating students about science and helping them in their pursuits for research experience. I was a very enthusiastic instructor, and I was relatively young at the time,” he says. “Like them, I had also been a student not long before, so it was all very relateable.”

Even now, mentorship remains one of the most meaningful parts of science for him. “What I feel the most gratitude toward is helping undergrad students who are motivated to pursue graduate training or career paths in science,” he says.

Still, some of the coolest moments in science are exactly the cinematic, goosebump-inducing kind.

“Coolest moment, I’d say, is hearing an alive and moving rat’s brain cell fire and seeing its waveform on the computer screen for the first time,” Gabe says.

While interviewing at the University of Arizona, he stepped into an experiment room where a rat with implanted brain electrodes was being recorded in real time. He could hear neurons firing through the computer speakers. “It almost sounded like popcorn,” he says.

For someone who had only seen these concepts in textbooks, the moment felt surreal. “I learned about this in college, and I even taught it as an adjunct lecturer. But to actually be there in real life, seeing a rat move around and hearing and seeing the neuron firing… that was a crazy experience.”

Science, Surfing, and Music 

Outside the lab, Gabe’s life is grounded in music, surfing, weightlifting, and family.

“I’m fortunate to be back to San Diego to start surfing again,” he says. “I love surfing.” 

He also plays guitar, especially folk music from the 1960s and 1970s. Recently, that hobby has taken on a new meaning. “I’m starting to expand my TikTok, where I play guitar for my dad who has Alzheimer's disease,” Gabe says.

Because his father has advanced Alzheimer’s disease, music can reach parts of him that everyday conversation cannot. “Music taps into deep emotional centers of the brain,” Gabe says. “In Alzheimer’s patients, their favorite songs spark a deep emotional response. They light up and come to life when they hear music from their earlier years.”

Watching that happen with his dad has become deeply meaningful. “Doing that with my dad is a lot of fun now. He really likes when I play Bob Dylan songs. He also loves ‘Home’ by Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zeros,” he says. “You can just see him light up and how happy he is, and he just loses himself in the music. And that’s pretty special.”

Advice for Future Scientists

When young students ask for advice, Gabe keeps it simple.

“Just take as many opportunities as you can,” he says. “You’re going to meet a lot of people throughout your scientific career. Really try to form as many meaningful connections as you can.”

His advice is practical, but also personal. “Be social, and be yourself,” he says. “Take every opportunity that presents, ask a lot of questions, and don’t be afraid to show your personality and enthusiasm. People want to help enthusiastic, inspired young scientists.”

It’s advice shaped by experience. And by someone who still finds wonder in the brain, in aspiring scientists, and in the possibility that science can help people heal.