SYDNEY: A Sydney-based machine learning engineer has made headlines by developing a personalized mRNA cancer vaccine for his terminally ill dog, using artificial intelligence tools despite having no formal background in biology.
Paul Conyngham, a data scientist, turned to AI platforms such as ChatGPT and AlphaFold after his rescue dog, Rosie, was diagnosed with late-stage mast cell cancer in 2024.
With chemotherapy failing to halt tumor progression and veterinarians giving a grim prognosis, Conyngham teamed up with the University of New South Wales (UNSW) to sequence Rosie’s healthy and cancerous DNA.
“We took samples from her tumor, transformed them into data, and analyzed it to identify the root cause,” Conyngham told Australia’s Today Show. After being denied compassionate access to an experimental immunotherapy by a pharmaceutical company, he leveraged AI to pinpoint the precise genetic mutations driving Rosie’s cancer and designed a custom mRNA vaccine. The UNSW RNA Institute then helped manufacture the treatment.
Rosie received her first injection in December. By mid-March, the main tumor on her leg had shrunk by roughly 75%. Once barely able to walk, Rosie is now reportedly jumping fences and chasing rabbits again.
UNSW researchers have confirmed that this case is unprecedented. Martin Smith, director of the UNSW Ramaciotti Centre for Genomics, emphasized that the development raises questions about why similarly rapid, personalized treatments are not yet available for humans.
Páll Thordarson, head of the UNSW RNA Institute, told The Australian that Conyngham’s success “shows how AI is democratizing complex biology,” and could signal a new era for personalized medicine in humans.
