Dr Olivia Burn

Dr Olivia Burn received her PhD from the University of Otago under the supervision of Dr Robert Weinkove within the Cancer Immunotherapy programme at the Malaghan Institute. Her thesis was centred around the innate-like T-cell populations natural killer T (NKT) cells and Vγ9Vδ2 T-cells and how these can be harnessed to enhance cancer vaccine effectiveness, with a particular focus on breast cancer.

Dr Burn is  currently undergoing a fellowship at the Icahn School of Medicine, Mt Sinai Hospital, New York with Assistant Professor Amaia Lujambio.

Read more about her research here.

"My current research is focussed on liver cancer which is among the most commonly-diagnosed and least-survivable cancers in Aotearoa-New Zealand, with notably higher occurrence and death rates in Māori.

"New drugs that broadly stimulate the immune system (immunotherapies) can increase survival rates, but for most patients this treatment alone will not be effective. My project looks to exploit a recent Malaghan Institute discovery involving modifications to an mRNA vaccine platform to induce targeted immune responses in the liver. As this type of response has been associated with positive outcomes in liver cancer patients, I will assess whether these novel vaccines will combine effectively with approved immunotherapies for liver cancer treatment.

"I'm performing this research in close collaboration with Assistant Professor Amaia Lujambio, an experienced liver cancer biologist at the Icahn School of Medicine, where I aim to utilise their state-of the-art animal models of liver cancer in my research."