Making local impact using global training in liver cancer research

30 October 2025

It has been a little under a year since Dr Olivia Burn returned to the Malaghan Institute from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. During her time overseas, she gained expertise in advanced liver cancer models and techniques, which she is now applying to research in New Zealand.

Research Officer Emma Lamb (left) with Dr Olivia Burn.

Liver cancer is a growing health challenge in New Zealand, with around 400 people diagnosed each year. Survival rates remain low and treatment options are limited, making research into new therapies especially important.

Since returning from her 12-month fellowship, Dr Burn has set up the advanced liver cancer models she used at Mount Sinai Hospital, bringing this expertise to the Malaghan Institute. Combined with the institute’s existing unique mouse strains, these models allow the team to study how liver cancer vaccines interact with the immune system and explore the mechanisms that could make future liver cancer immunotherapies more effective.

“We are now in a position to dig deeper into how vaccines stimulate the immune system against liver cancer,” says Dr Burn. “Bringing back the knowledge and techniques I gained overseas has allowed us to apply them here in New Zealand and take our research further than we could have before.”

Dr Burn is now seeking further funding to take the liver cancer project to the next stage. Her work demonstrates how international collaboration strengthens the Malaghan Institute’s ability to tackle one of New Zealand’s most challenging cancers and bring potential new therapies closer to patients.