Dr. Murphy spent his postdoctoral years and early career at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Frederick, Maryland. After 12 years, and becoming Director of Basic Research at NCI-Frederick in Maryland, he joined the faculty at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). Dr. Murphy later became the Chair of Microbiology and Immunology at UNR, School of Medicine. In 2008, Dr. Murphy moved his laboratory to UC Davis, accepting a position as Professor and Vice Chair of Research in the Department of Dermatology and Internal Medicine, Division of Hematology Oncology.
Dr. Murphy’s laboratory studies various aspects within cancer immunology and immunotherapy for melanoma. Current projects within the lab are exploring how to increase the success of these engraftments as well as to make them safer for patients by decreasing the period in which the patient is immune-compromised. Another focus within Dr. Murphy’s laboratory is studying how the immune system becomes activated after the systemic administration of immunotherapies. His laboratory has several NIH R01 grants and is also funded by CIRM, looking at stem cell engraftment.
Dr. Murphy has over 200 publications in cancer immunology over his 25 year career and is active on multiple NIH Study Sections.

William Murphy
Professor and Acting Chair Department of Dermatology Professor Department of Internal Medicine Division of Hematology/Oncology
Summary
Published articles Show More
High fluence light emitting diode-generated red light modulates characteristics associated with skin fibrosis.
Published in Journal of Biophotonics
Skin fibrosis, often referred to as skin scarring, is a significant international health problem with limited treatment options. The hallmarks of skin fibrosis are increased fibroblast proliferation, collagen production, and migration speed. Recently published clinical observations indicate that visible red light may improve skin fibrosis. In this ...
Resveratrol Prevents High Fluence Red Light-Emitting Diode Reactive Oxygen Species-Mediated Photoinhibition of Human Ski...
Published in PLoS ONE
Background: Skin fibrosis is a significant medical problem that leads to a functional, aesthetic, and psychosocial impact on quality-of-life. Light-emitting diode-generated 633-nm red light (LED-RL) is part of the visible light spectrum that is not known to cause DNA damage and is considered a safe, non-invasive, inexpensive, and portable potential...
Sensitization of human breast cancer cells to natural killer cell-mediated cytotoxicity by proteasome inhibition
Published in Clinical & Experimental Immunology