Australian tech entrepreneur Paul Conyngham has used artificial intelligence tools to help design a personalized mRNA cancer vaccine for his 8-year-old rescue dog, Rose.
Conyngham told Australia’s Today program: "Rose is my best mate, and she’s been with me through really tough times…when she was handed this sentence [a terminal cancer diagnosis], I felt I had to do my part for her as well."
Conyngham, who has no medical background, has several years of experience in machine learning and data analysis. He used ChatGPT and AlphaFold, an AI program, to analyze protein structures linked to cancer to create a personalized cancer vaccine for his dog, according to The Australian.
The RNA Institute University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Australia manufactured the vaccine based on AI-derived sequences provided by Conyngham.
UNSW Professor Pall Thordarson, the director of the RNA Institute, told Today: "Once we had the sequence that Paul designed…it was less than two months from that point until we handed it over to Paul who took it to the vet to help her [Rose]."
"The vaccine pushed back about 75 percent of the cancer," Conyngham said on Today.
Newsweek has contacted Thordarson via email and Conyngham via the online contact form for StarAi, one of his initiatives, for comment.
Why It Matters
The case highlights how AI tools could potentially support rapid, bespoke biomedical design to help treat cancer and other conditions.
What To Know
Rose, a Staffordshire bull terrier, was diagnosed with mast cell cancer and was given just months to live after large tumors appeared on one of her back legs.
Conyngham said the process of creating the vaccine began with sequencing the tumor DNA and converting tissue into data to identify targetable mutations, with ChatGPT assisting throughout.
"We took her tumor, we sequenced the DNA, we converted it from like tissue to data and then we used that to sort of find, search for the problem in her DNA and then develop a cure based off that, and ChatGPT assisted throughout the entire process," Conyngham told Today.
Thordarson said the team initially doubted whether the work could be completed in time, but delivered the construct to Conyngham in under two months after receiving the designed sequence.
About a month after vaccination, Rose the dog’s mobility and behavior improved markedly. Conyngham told Today: "At the start of December…her mobility was way down, she started to shut down and be a bit sad. And, toward the end of January, she was jumping over a fence to chase a rabbit.
"The vaccine pushed back about 75 percent of the cancer. So, it shrunk it all down. There was just a little bit that didn’t respond," Conyngham told Today.
What People Are Saying
Conyngham said, "I think it’s added considerable life span and health span to Rose," according to Today.
Thordarson said he was initially a bit skeptical. "I thought this might take too long…the technology, even though we’ve been working similar mRNA for years, I just didn’t think we could do this this quickly and it would be in time to really help Rose. So, it’s just been an amazing project for us to be involved in," he told Today.
Asked about broader implications, Thordarson said: "Absolutely…there are companies, including Moderna, who are working on personalized cancer vaccines. But I think what this taught me is two things: We can actually do this here…That means we can democratize this technology in Australia, and we can also use it for other diseases possibly…neurological diseases, for instance."
What Happens Next
Conyngham said he and collaborators were examining why part of the cancer did not respond. He told Today: "We actually sequenced a tumor that didn’t respond and are currently trying to find out why that part didn’t respond and potentially make another vaccine."
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