Notre Dame PhD Student Tackles 'Lost Cause' Cancers with New Research

Olivia Comito, 23, has been named a finalist in the 2025 Young Achiever Awards for her work with WARPNINE, a not-for-profit organisation focused on research into pancreatic, gastrointestinal and rare cancers.

Olivia’s research investigates how bacteria in the gut microbiome influence how patients respond to chemotherapy. Her findings may offer a roadmap for more personalised, life-saving cancer treatment.

“What we’ve found is that some bacteria actually help treatment work, while others can stop it from working altogether,” Olivia said.

“If we can understand this better, we can predict how someone will respond to chemotherapy before they even start. That could change everything, especially for cancers like pancreatic, where time is so critical.”

Her research forms part of a broader clinical trial that has already shown remarkable outcomes, including a 70 per cent tumour shrinkage rate and a 100 per cent disease control rate among participants. Olivia’s PhD project is focused on investigating whether patients who respond significantly well to the novel treatment share a distinct gut microbial signature compared to those who do not respond as well, providing a possible explanation for the difference in treatment outcomes. She describes the results as “unheard of in clinical trials.”

The motivation behind Olivia’s research is deeply personal. When she was just 11 years old, her mother was diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer and passed away three years later. Olivia attended every appointment, kept a binder of medical research and asked doctors question after question. That dedication led to an internship at the Telethon Kids Institute at the age of 15.

“I walked in and they thought I was an Honours student,” she said. “When they realised I was still in high school, they let me stay anyway.”

Since then, Olivia has completed undergraduate and postgraduate studies at Notre Dame and now holds a research fellowship with WARPNINE, working under the supervision of leading WA oncologist Dr Andrew Dean. As a co-investigator, she played a central role in defining and analysing the microbiome component of the iLSTA clinical trial, a national study exploring treatment responses in pancreatic cancer.

She is also the developer and lead investigator of a new study known as ‘PanNETs’, which will be the first in Australia to investigate the role of the gut microbiome in neuroendocrine pancreatic cancer. In addition, she is helping design a new clinical trial for stomach, oesophageal and gastro-oesophageal cancers, which will integrate a microbiome component to build on the success of her earlier work.

Associate Dean Research in the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Professor Gerard Hoyne, said Olivia’s nomination is a testament to her exceptional dedication and to the University's commitment to values-based research.

“Olivia exemplifies what it means to be a Notre Dame researcher: curious, courageous and compassionate,” Professor Hoyne said.

“Her work has the potential to transform how we treat some of the most aggressive and overlooked cancers. We are incredibly proud to support her journey and to see her research gaining recognition on a national stage.”

This isn’t the first time Olivia’s scientific work has gained national and international recognition. In 2024, she was awarded Best Presentation at the Australasian Gastro-Intestinal Trials Group (AGITG) Annual Scientific Meeting. In early 2025, she was invited to present her findings at the prestigious ASCO GI Cancers Symposium in San Francisco. These opportunities have helped her foster global collaborations and advance critical dialogue on cancers that often receive little attention.

“These cancers don’t get the attention or the funding they deserve,” Olivia said. “Pancreatic cancer especially is often seen as a lost cause. But we are proving that research can make a difference.”

She added, “Seventy-three per cent of all cancer deaths result from gastrointestinal cancers. That is a huge percentage. It shows just how critical it is to invest in this kind of research. We need to bring these cancers out of the shadows.”