William Murphy, Ph.D.
Distinguished Professor and Vice Chair of Research, Department of Dermatology
Distinguished Professor, Department of Internal Medicine Division of Malignant Hematology/Cell Therapy, Transplantation
Locations and Contact
UC Davis Institute for Regenerative Cures (IRC)
UC Davis Institute for Regenerative Cures (IRC)
2921 Stockton Blvd.
Sacramento, CA 95817
Additional Numbers
Physician Referrals
Research/Academic Interests
Murphy’s laboratory investigates multiple aspects of cancer immunology and melanoma immunotherapy. Current projects focus on improving the efficacy and safety of cellular engraftment therapies by enhancing engraftment success while reducing the duration of patient immunosuppression. The laboratory also studies the mechanisms by which the immune system is activated following systemic administration of immunotherapies and understanding the role of diet and obesity on immune function.
Division
Malignant Hematology/Cellular Therapy and Transplantation
Center/Program Affiliation
Undergraduate School
B.S., Biology, Rutgers University, 1984
Other School
Ph.D., Immunology, University of Texas, Southwestern Medical School, 1989
Fellowship
BRMP, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, 1990-1993
UC Davis Graduate School Outstanding Mentoring Award 2024,
Joan Oetinnger Memorial Award for Cancer Research 2023,
Outstanding UT Southwestern Alumnus Award in the 2019 presentation,
UC Davis Deans Award for Excellence, Cancer Immunotherapy Comparative Oncology Team 2016,
UC Davis School of Medicine, Outstanding Researcher Award, 2016
Tietze JK, Wilkins DE, Sckisel GD, Bouchlaka MN, Alderson KL, Weiss JM, Ames E, Bruhn KW, Craft N, Wiltrout RH, Longo DL, Lanier LL, Blazar BR, Redelman D, Murphy WJ. Delineation of antigen-specific and antigen-nonspecific CD8(+) memory T-cell responses after cytokine-based cancer immunotherapy. Blood. 2012 Mar 29;119(13):3073-83. doi:10.1182/blood-2011-07-369736. Epub 2012 Jan 17. PMID:22251483.
Srinivasan M, Flynn R, Price A, Ranger A, Browning JL, Taylor PA, Ritz J, Antin JH, Murphy WJ, Luznik L, Shlomchik MJ, Panoskaltsis-Mortari A, Blazar BR. Donor B-cell alloantibody deposition and germinal center formation are required for the development of murine chronic GVHD and bronchiolitis obliterans. Blood. 2012 Feb 9;119(6):1570-80. doi:10.1182/blood-2011-07-364414. Epub 2011 Nov 9. PMID:22072556.
Sun K, Alvarez M, Ames E, Barao I, Chen M, Longo DL, Redelman D, Murphy WJ. Mouse NK cell-mediated rejection of bone marrow allografts exhibits patterns consistent with Ly49 subset licensing. Blood. 2012 Feb 9;119(6):1590-8. doi:10.1182/blood-2011-08-374314. Epub 2011 Dec 19. PMID:22184406.
Zhou Q, Munger ME, Veenstra RG, Weigel BJ, Hirashima M, Munn DH, Murphy WJ, Azuma M, Anderson AC, Kuchroo VK, Blazar BR. Coexpression of Tim-3 and PD-1 identifies a CD8+ T-cell exhaustion phenotype in mice with disseminated acute myelogenous leukemia. Blood. 2011 Apr 28;117(17):4501-10. doi:10.1182/blood-2010-10-310425. Epub 2011 Mar 8. PMID:21385853.
Barao I, Alvarez M, Ames E, Orr MT, Stefanski HE, Blazar BR, Lanier LL, Anderson SK, Redelman D, Murphy WJ. Mouse Ly49G2+ NK cells dominate early responses during both immune reconstitution and activation independently of MHC. Blood. 2011 Jun 30;117(26):7032-41. doi:10.1182/blood-2010-11-316653. Epub 2011 Apr 15. PMID:21498673.
Barao I, Alvarez M, Redelman D, Weiss JM, Ortaldo JR, Wiltrout RH, Murphy WJ. Hydrodynamic delivery of human IL-15 cDNA increases murine natural killer cell recovery after syngeneic bone marrow transplantation. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant. 2011 Dec;17(12):1754-64. doi:10.1016/j.bbmt.2011.08.023. Epub 2011 Sep 8. PMID:21906575.
Coghill JM, Sarantopoulos S, Moran TP, Murphy WJ, Blazar BR, Serody JS. Effector CD4+ T cells, the cytokines they generate, and GVHD: something old and something new. Blood. 2011 Mar 24;117(12):3268-76. doi:10.1182/blood-2010-12-290403. Epub 2011 Jan 18. PMID:21245483.
Hu B, He Y, Wu Y, Bao G, Liu H, Welniak LA, Murphy WJ. Activated allogeneic NK cells as suppressors of alloreactive responses. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant. 2010 Jun;16(6):772-81. doi:10.1016/j.bbmt.2010.02.023. Epub 2010 Mar 1. PMID:20197103.
Orr MT, Murphy WJ, Lanier LL. 'Unlicensed' natural killer cells dominate the response to cytomegalovirus infection. Nat Immunol. 2010 Apr;11(4):321-7. doi:10.1038/ni.1849. Epub 2010 Feb 28. PMID:20190757.
Urbieta M, Barao I, Jones M, Jurecic R, Panoskaltsis-Mortari A, Blazar BR, Murphy WJ, Levy RB. Hematopoietic progenitor cell regulation by CD4+CD25+ T cells. Blood. 2010 Jun 10;115(23):4934-43. doi:10.1182/blood-2009-04-218826. Epub 2010 Mar 3. PMID:20200356.