Michelle (Shelley) McGuire

• Maternal/infant nutrition
• Human milk composition
• Breastfeeding
• Milk microbiome
• Cannabis
• Mastitis
• Women's health

• Ericson J, McGuire MK, Svärd A, Hårdstedt M. (2024) Total nitrite and nitrate concentration in human milk and saliva during the first 60 days postpartum—A pilot study. Biomedicines. 2024; 12(6):1195. https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines12061195.
• Holdsworth EA, Berim A, Gang DR, Williams JE, Smith CB, Caffé B, Brooks O, Barbosa-Leiker C, McGuire MA, McGuire MK, Meehan CL. (2024) Human milk cannabinoid concentrations and associations with maternal factors: the LAC study. Breastfeeding Medicine. 19(7):515-524. doi: 10.1089/bfm.2024.0021.
• Pace RM, King-Nakaoka EA, Morse AG, Pascow KJ, Winquist A, Caffé B, Navarrete AD, Lackey KA, Pace CDW, Fehrenkamp BD, Smith CB, Martin MA, Barbosa-Leiker C, Ley SH, McGuire MA, Meehan CL, Williams JE, McGuire MK. (2024) Prevalence and duration of SARS-CoV-2 fecal shedding in breastfeeding dyads following maternal COVID-19 diagnosis. Frontiers in Immunology. 21:15:1329092. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1329092.
• Castro Navarro I, McGuire MA, Williams JE, Holdsworth EA, Meehan CL, McGuire MK. (2024) Maternal cannabis use during lactation and potential impacts on human milk composition and production: a narrative review. Advances in Nutrition. 15:100196. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.advnut.2024.100196.
• Smith CB, Schmidt JL, Holdsworth EA, Caffe BQ, Brooks O, Williams JE, Gang DR, McGuire MA, McGuire MK, Barbosa-Leiker C, Meehan CL. (2024) Cannabis use during lactation: A mixed-methods investigation of decision-making and perceptions of risk among women who frequently use cannabis. J Cannabis Res. Cannabis use, decision making, and perceptions of risk among breastfeeding individuals: the Lactation and Cannabis (LAC) Study. J Cannabis Res 6, 6. https://doi.org/10.1186/s42238-023-00212-w.
• Holdsworth EA, Williams JE, Pace RM, Lane AA, Garstein M, McGuire MA, McGuire MK, Meehan CL. (2023) Breastfeeding patterns are associated with human milk microbiome composition: the MIMBES study. PLoS ONE 18(8), e0287839.
• Caffé B, Fehrenkamp BD, Williams JE, Pace RM, Lackey KL, Ruíz L, Rodríguez JM, McGuire MA, Foster JA, Sellen DW, Kamau-Mbuthia EW, Kamundia EW, Mbugua S, Moore SE, Prentice AM, Kvist LJ, Otoo GE, Pareja RG, Bode L, Gebeyehu D, Gindola DK, Boothman S, Flores K, McGuire MK, Meehan CL. (2023) Variation in human milk immune factors by maternal nutritional status and infant sex: The INSPIRE Study. Am J Hum Biol. 35 (11), e23943.
• Tabb DL, Jeong K, Druart K, Gant MS, Brown KA, Nicora C, Zhou M, McGuire MK, Chamot-Rooke J. (2023) Comparing top-down proteoform identification: deconvolution, PrSM overlap, and PTM detection. J Proteome Research. DOI: 10.1021/acs.jproteome.2c00673.
• Smilowitz JT, Allen L, Dallas D, McManaman J, Raiten DJ, Rozga M, Sela DA, Seppo A, Williams JE, Young B, McGuire MK. (2023) Ecologies, synergies, and biological systems shaping human milk composition—a report from Breastmilk Ecology and the Genesis of Infant Nutrition (BEGIN) Working Group 2. Am J Clin Nutr, 117, S28-S42.
• Couvillion SP, Mostoller KE, Williams JE, Pace RM, Stohel IL, Peterson HK, Nicolra CD, Nakayusa ES, Webb-Robertson B-JM, McGuire MA, McGuire MK, Metz TO. (2023) Interrogating the milk microbiome in the multi-omics era. Front Microbiol. 14:1105675. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1105675.

Michelle (Shelley) McGuire received her bachelor’s in biology from the University of Illinois (1986), a master’s in nutritional sciences from the University of Illinois (1988) and doctorate in human nutrition from Cornell University (1994). Her research focuses primarily on understanding better how maternal diet and nutritional status influence human milk composition and maternal/infant health during breastfeeding. Of particular interest to her research is understanding the importance of dietary lipids to maternal and infant health.

Shelley also has a long-standing interest in understanding the physiologic mechanisms driving the return of ovulatory function during the postpartum period. Recently, Shelley and her colleagues Mark McGuire and Janet Williams (both at the University of Idaho) have become intrigued by the presence and variability of bacteria in human milk (known as the human milk microbiome). As an extension, they are also interested in how the milk microbiome impacts short- and long-term infant health both in the U.S. and globally. Shelley’s research has been funded by a variety of groups including the U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and commodity groups such as the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and the Idaho Dairy Commission. McGuire is also passionately committed to bettering human health through the provision of user-friendly, high-quality, evidence-based nutrition information to the press and public.

Shelley is a seasoned science writer, having coauthored two introductory textbooks: one in its third edition (Nutritional Sciences: from Fundamentals to Food, Cengage Published) and the other in its second edition (NUTR, Cengage Publishing).

Shelley lives with her husband (Mark, associate dean of research and director of Idaho Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Idaho) and their Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retrievers in Moscow, Idaho. When she’s not engaged in teaching, research or service, she enjoys being with her family and friends, traveling, cooking and eating, running, playing the flute, singing and practicing Iyengar yoga.

• Excellence in Nutrition Education Award, American Society for Nutrition, 2018
• Thomas E. Lutz Teaching Excellence Award, Washington State University College of Arts and Sciences, 2016
• National Spokesperson for the American Society for Nutrition, 2008-2017
• Ehrlich-Koldovsky Award, given by the International Society for Research in Human Milk and Lactation to “recognize a young investigator who has begun to make outstanding, original scientific contributions to the study of human milk and lactation,” 2002
• Future Leader Award, International Life Sciences Institute, 2000
• Phi Beta Kappa Honorary (University of Illinois chapter), 1986