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Program in Cancer Biology

Mary Philip, M.D., Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Medicine, Assistant Professor of Pathology, Microbiology & Immunology

The Philip Lab studies immune system interactions with cancers. Tumor-reactive T cells are often found in patients’ tumors, however the tumors grow unimpeded; thus the T cells have been rendered dysfunctional. The overall goal of our laboratory is to understand how tumor-specific T cells become dysfunctional. We use genetically-engineered mouse models where we can track tumor-specific T cells as they differentiate in developing tumors and dissect the immunophenotypic, functional, transcriptional, and epigenetic properties of T cells using flow cytometry and next-generation sequencing. By unraveling the molecular pathways that lead to T cell dysfunction in cancer, we can devise new strategies for cancer immunotherapy.