Modeling T Cell Dysfunction in Tumor Microenvironments

10 AM EDT | September 1, 2026

The tumor microenvironment (TME) presents a complex and metabolically challenging landscape that can profoundly shape immune cell function and contribute to immune evasion in cancer. As tumors grow and consume large amounts of nutrients, they create conditions characterized by nutrient depletion, accumulation of metabolic byproducts, and other forms of cellular stress. Together, these pressures can impair T cell fitness, function, and persistence, ultimately limiting effective anti-tumor immunity.

We are pleased to invite Greg M. Delgoffe, Ph.D., Professor of Immunology at the University of Pittsburgh and Director of the Tumor Microenvironment Center at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, to share his research on understanding and modeling T cell dysfunction within the tumor microenvironment.

In this webinar, Dr. Delgoffe will discuss approaches for modeling the metabolic and immunologic pressures that T cells encounter in tumors in preclinical settings. Beginning with metabolically distinct tumor models, he will explore how the complexity of the tumor microenvironment can be reduced into defined metabolic and immune stressors, enabling researchers to better understand the mechanisms that drive T cell dysfunction and immune escape.

Key points to be discussed during the session:

• How the tumor microenvironment creates metabolic conditions that suppress effective anti-tumor immune responsesry
• How metabolically distinct tumor models can be used to investigate T cell dysfunction in preclinical settings
• How complex tumor-associated pressures can be dissected into defined metabolic and immunologic stressors
• How understanding the metabolic limitations of tumor-infiltrating T cells may reveal new strategies to improve cancer immunotherapy

Greg M. Delgoffe, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Immunology, University of Pittsburgh
Director, Tumor Microenvironment Center
Associate Director for Basic Research, UPMC Hillman Cancer Center
Director, Program in Microbiology and Immunology
Chair, AACR Cancer Immunology (CIMM) Working Group

Greg M. Delgoffe, Ph.D is Professor of Immunology at the University of Pittsburgh, Associate Director for Basic Research and Director of the Tumor Microenvironment Center at the UPMC Hillman Cancer Center. Dr. Delgoffe obtained his Ph.D at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in 2010, and completed postdoctoral training at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in 2014. Dr. Delgoffe’s lab has worked to both understand how immune cells alter their functional and differentiation state through integration of metabolic cues, most notably in cancer. He studies mechanisms by which T cells become metabolically insufficient as they infiltrate tumors and leverage that insight into strategies to metabolically bolster immunotherapy for cancer. Further, he works to understand how deleterious T cell populations in cancer, such as exhausted and regulatory T cells, are metabolically supported in cancer and inflamed tissue. He also has interests in how the immune system can be modulated metabolically through alterations to diet. Much of his work has been translated into both novel therapeutics and as well as repurposing metabolic drugs as immunometabolic agents to improve immunotherapy. Since 2022, he has been named a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher in immunology and has received multiple awards including the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award and the Cancer Research Institute’s Lloyd J Old STAR Award. In 2023 he was elected to the National Academy of Inventors in part due to his dedication to translating immunometabolism discoveries to cancer therapies. Overall, the Delgoffe lab has worked to uncover and dissect the metabolic networks present in immunity and develop novel means to tip the metabolic balance in favor of curative immunity to cancer.

For Research Use Only.