Mary Philip and Michael Rudloff (IMAGE) Vanderbilt University Medical Center Caption Mary Philip, MD, PhD, left and Michael Rudloff, PhD, found that T cells become “exhausted” within hours of encountering a tumor, challenging existing ideas about how T cells become dysfunctional. Credit VUMC Usage Restrictions Credit VUMC License Original content Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.