Assistant Professor of Biology Department of Biology Science & Learning Center 310D mmcnamar@whittier.edu
B.S. Biology, California Lutheran University Ph.D. Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, University of California, Riverside
Dr. Monica McNamara is an assistant professor of Biology. Her primary research interest is understanding the complex relationship between the trillions of microorganisms inhabiting the gastrointestinal tract and exercise behavior and/or ability. Her love of lizards started during her undergraduate experience at California Lutheran University. After completing her bachelor’s degree in biology, she pursued a doctorate degree at UC Riverside. Dr. McNamara’s dissertation research focused on the gut microbiome of mice selectively bred for high voluntary wheel-running behavior. Acute and chronic exercise alters the gut microbial community, and early stages of research have shown that microbes can influence exercise behavior and/or ability.
Her research has highlighted the effects of exercise on the gut microbiome community and how the removal of the gut microbiome community can affect exercise behavior in rodent models. At Whittier College, Dr. McNamara continues to study the gut microbiome in a local lizard celebrity, the western fence lizard. She offers lower and upper division Biology classes, including Human Anatomy and Physiology.
2024. Schwartz, N. E., Schmill, M. P., Cadney, M. D., Alberto, A. A., Hillis, D., A., McNamara, M. P., Rashid, J. O., Lampman, W., DeLaCruz, D. F., Tran, B. D., Trutalli, N. L., and Garland, Jr., T. Maternal exercise opportunity before, during, and after pregnancy alters maternal care behavior and offspring development and survival, but has few effects on offspring physical activity or body composition. Physiology & Behavior 114752.
2023. Schwartz, N. E., McNamara, M. P., Orozco, J. M., Rashid, J. O., Thai, A. P., and Garland, Jr., T. Selective breeding for high voluntary exercise in mice increases maximal (VO2max) but not basal metabolic rate. Journal of Experimental Biology 226 (15), jeb245256.
2023. McNamara, M. P., Venable, E. M., Cadney, M. D., Alberto, A. A., Schmill, M. P., Kazzazi, L., Carmody, R. N., and Garland, Jr., T. Weanling gut microbiota composition of a mouse model selectively bred for high voluntary wheel-running behavior. Journal of Experimental Biology 226 (4), jeb245081.
2022. Cadney, M. D., Albuquerque, R. L., Schwartz, N. E., McNamara, M. P., Castro, A. A., Schmill, M. P., and Garland Jr., T. Effects of early-life voluntary exercise and fructose on adult activity levels, body composition, aerobic capacity, and organ masses in mice bred for high voluntary wheel-running behavior. Journal of Developmental Origins of Health and Disease, 1-12.
2022. McNamara, M. P., Cadney, M. D., Castro, A. A., Hillis, D., A., Kallini, K. M., Macbeth, J. C., Schmill, M. P., Schwartz, N. E., Hsiao, A., and Garland Jr., T. Oral antibiotics reduce voluntary exercise behavior in athletic mice. Behavioural Processes 199, 104650.
2021. Cadney, M. D., Schwartz, N. E., McNamara, M. P., Schmill, M. P., Castro, A. A., Hillis, D. A. and Garland Jr., T. Cross-fostering selectively bred High Runner mice affects adult body mass but not voluntary exercise. Physiology & Behavior 241, 113569.
2021. McNamara, M. P., Singleton, J. M., Cadney, M. D., Ruegger, P. M., Borneman, J. and Garland Jr., T. Early-life effects of juvenile Western diet and exercise on adult gut microbiome composition in mice. Journal of Experimental Biology 224, jeb239699.
2020. Schmill, M. P., M. D. Cadney, M. D., Thompson, Z., Hiramatsu, L., Albuquerque, R. L., McNamara, M. P., Castro, A. A., Kay, J. C., Buenaventura, D. G., Ramirez, J. R., Rhodes, J. S., and Garland, Jr., T. Conditioned place preference for cocaine and methylphenidate in female mice from lines selectively bred for high voluntary wheel-running behavior. Genes, Brain and Behavior 20, e12700.
