Funded by the 2025 Kay Yow Cancer Fund Final Four Research Award
Ovarian cancer is hard to treat. Most patient’s cancer comes back after standard treatment. Once the disease is back it is more difficult to treat and patients will eventually die from it. Chemotherapy can also cause direct harm to the body. This can make patients delay treatment, stop it altogether, or lower their doses. It can also harm the good bacteria in the gut, which is important for how well treatments work. Our goal is to come up with new ways to predict, prevent, and manage these harmful effects. We also want to develop new therapies that can lead to complete and lasting responses, increasing chances of cure right from the start. To reach this goal we will use mathematical modeling. This will allow us to test many treatments quickly, which cannot be done with traditional laboratory methods. First, we will use patient blood samples to predict the risk of toxicity, helping doctors know when to change or pause treatment. Next, we will use math modeling to find the best combinations of new targeted therapies. Finally, we will reduce the harmful effects of chemotherapy on the gut using math modeling to improve how well those therapies work. This research could change how we treat cancer. It may lead to complete tumor response and better chances for a cure.
