Dog at center of DIY AI cancer vaccine as Australian techie details ChatGPT and AlphaFold breakthrough
dog owners and cancer researchers are watching closely after Australian tech worker Paul Conyngham described building a custom mRNA cancer vaccine for his pet, Rosie. Conyngham says he turned to ChatGPT and Google DeepMind’s AlphaFold after traditional treatment, including chemotherapy, failed to shrink the tumor. The account was discussed publicly on the Australian programme Today, with Conyngham stressing the effort was meant to buy time and quality of life rather than claim a guaranteed cure.
How the dog’s case moved from failed treatment to an AI-assisted vaccine plan
Conyngham said he adopted Rosie, a Staffy–Shar Pei cross, from an animal shelter in 2019. Five years later, he said, Rosie was diagnosed with cancer, and after spending thousands of dollars on traditional treatment such as chemotherapy, the tumor did not shrink.
At that point, Conyngham said he decided to sequence Rosie’s DNA and compare healthy DNA with tumor DNA to identify mutations. He described the comparison in practical terms: “It’s like having the original engine of your car and then a version of the engine 300, 000km down the road – you can compare them and see where there’s damage. ”
He also described using ChatGPT to help draft a plan for developing the vaccine. “I went to ChatGPT and came up with a plan on how to do this, ” Conyngham said in remarks cited from his interviews.
What institutions and AI systems were involved, and what changed after injections
To obtain sequencing, Conyngham contacted the University of New South Wales Ramaciotti Centre for Genomics, which provided genomic sequencing for 3, 000 Australian dollars, he said. He then processed the sequencing data to find mutations and used AlphaFold, an AI system made by Google DeepMind that helps interpret protein functions, to support the step of identifying mutations and matching them to potential drugs for treating the tumor.
Using that workflow, Conyngham said he and the University of New South Wales created a custom mRNA vaccine for Rosie. The description provided of the approach is that an mRNA vaccine triggers an immune response by using a synthetic messenger RNA to instruct cells to produce a harmless viral protein.
Rosie received her first injection in December (year not specified in the available details), followed by booster shots. Conyngham said the tumor shrank significantly after dosing, though he emphasized the cancer was already at an advanced stage. In another account of the same case, the shrinkage was described as “in half” after treatment was administered over the Christmas break last year.
In the middle of the process, Conyngham said regulatory and ethics steps became a major hurdle for the dog trial itself, calling the “red tape” harder than the vaccine creation.
Immediate reactions: named leaders weigh in on the AI-driven approach
OpenAI President Greg Brockman publicly highlighted the case, describing it as AI empowering Conyngham to create a custom mRNA vaccine when the dog had only months to live, and calling it a “first personalized cancer vaccine designed for a dog. ”
Google DeepMind Chief Executive Officer Demis Hassabis praised the effort and characterized it as an early example of “digital biology. ”
Perplexity Chief Executive Officer Aravind Srinivas also commented on AlphaFold’s long-term impact, calling it one of the greatest outcomes to come from AI.
Quick context and what’s next for the dog’s treatment
Conyngham said he has worked in machine learning and data analysis for 17 years, which shaped his ability to navigate both tools and data workflows. He also described months of ethics approval work, saying it took three months and “two hours aside every single night” to prepare a 100-page document.
Looking ahead, Conyngham said he is now working on a second vaccine to address a remaining tumor, while remaining realistic about limits: “I’m under no illusion that this is a cure, but I do believe this treatment has bought Rosie significantly more time and quality of life. ” If approvals and dosing continue, the next major development will be whether the second vaccine can further reduce disease burden in the dog without compromising safety.
