• Department of Pathology
  • Pathology Staff
• Department of Laboratory Medicine
  • Laboratory Medicine Staff
• Affiliated Hospitals
  • Moffitt-Long
  • Mount Zion Medical Center
  • San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center
  • San Francisco General
• Faculty
  • Pathology
  • Laboratory Medicine

Research and Clinical Interests

My lab is focused on understanding the immune response to infectious diseases and blood transfusion. Active areas of infectious disease research include defining the role CD4+ T cells play in controlling HIV replication, how HIV causes CD4+ T cell loss, how T cells and T regulatory cells respond to acute West Nile virus infection, and whether or not influenza A infection causes bloodstream infection. To understand the immunology of blood transfusion we are studying the relationship between anti-HLA antibodies and acute lung injury, and are also exploring how donor white cells persist in some post-trauma transfusion recipients.

Selected Publications

• Norris PJ, Pappalardo BL, Custer B, Spotts G, Hecht FM, Busch MP. Elevations in IL-10, TNF-α, and IFN-γ from the earliest point of HIV-1 infection. AIDS Res Hum Retroviruses 2006 Aug;22(8):757-62.
• Norris PJ, Stone JD, Anikeeva N, Heitman JW, Wilson IC, Hirschkorn DF, Clark MH, Moffett HF, Cameron TO, Sykulev Y, Stern LJ, Walker BD. Antagonism of HIV-specific CD4+T cells by C-terminal truncation of a minimum epitope. Mol Immunol 43(9):1349-57 (2006).
• Zavala-Ruiz Z, Strug I, Walker BD, Norris PJ, Stern LJ. A hairpin turn in a class II MHC-bound peptide orients residues outside the binding groove for T cell recognition. PNAS 101(36):13279-84 (2004).
• Norris PJ, Moffett HF, Yang OO, Kaufmann DE, Clark MJ, Addo MM, Rosenberg ES. Beyond help: Direct effector functions of HIV-1-specific CD4+ T cells. J Virol 78(16):8844-51 (2004).
• Norris PJ, Sumaroka M, Brander C, Moffett HF, Boswell SL, Nguyen T, Sykulev Y, Walker BD, Rosenberg ES. Multiple effector functions mediated by HIV-specific CD4+ T cell clones. J Virol 75(20):9771-9779 (2001).

Selected Awards

• 1985 National Merit Scholar
• 1985 California Scholarship Federation Award
• 1985 Bank of America Scholar’s Award
• 1985 - 1989 James B. Black Award (Pacific Gas & Electric Co. 4 year scholarship)
• 1985 - 1989 University of California Alumni Association Scholar
• 1985 - 1989 University of California Chancellor’s Scholar
• 1995 Letter of Commendation for Teaching Excellence, College of Physicians & Surgeons, Columbia University
• 1999 Chairman, P&S Class of 1995
• 2000 - 2005 Doris Duke Charitable Foundation Clinical Scientist Development Award

• Adjunct Assistant Professor
• Laboratory Medicine

Specialty Area

• Immunology, infectious diseases

Contact Information

• pnorris@bloodsystems.org
• Phone: 415-923-5769
• Fax: 415-567-5899

• Blood Systems Research Institute
• 270 Masonic Avenue
• San Francisco, CA 94118

Web Site

• http://www.bsrisf.org/i-pnorris.html

Other UCSF Organizational Association(s)

Assistant Clinical Professor

• Department of Medicine
• Division of Infectious Diseases

Associate Director

• Center for AIDS Research

Associate Investigator and Director of Immunology

• Blood Systems Research Institute

Hospital Affiliation(s)

• San Francisco General Hospital & Trauma Center
• Blood Centers of the Pacific