ALBAWABA - Paul Conyngham, an Australian tech guy based in Sydney, recently went viral after using AI to help develop a cancer vaccine for his terminally ill rescued dog Rosie.
According to The Australian, the eight-year-old Staffordshire–Shar Pei cross was rescued from bushland in Australia and was adopted by Conyngham from an animal shelter in Sydney in 2019. Rosie was diagnosed with a deadly mast cell cancer in 2024. This prompted Conyngham to spend thousands of dollars on chemotherapy and surgery, which slowed the tumors' growth but failed to stop them.
Australian tech guy uses AI to save his dog from cancer
However, the Sydney-based techie, unwilling to give up on his pup, collaborated with researchers at the University of New South Wales to sequence the dog’s tumor DNA, which he paid $3,000 for.
He then fed the data to AI platforms such as ChatGPT and AlphaFold, which eventually led to the development of an mRNA cancer vaccine. The scientists and researchers were shocked to see that a tumor on Rosie's hock shrank in half, prompting a possible solution for human cancer patients.
The personalised mRNA cancer vaccine for dogs is considered the first of its kind, according to Professor Páll Thordarson.
Martin Smith, an associate professor of computational biology and director of the Ramaciotti Centre for Genomics at the University of New South Wales, said, "It was like holy crap, it worked!"
He added, "It raises the question, if we can do this for a dog, why aren’t we rolling this out to all humans with cancer? It gives hope to a lot of people, and it’s something we’re passionate about trying to chase up here."
Paul Conyngham then posted on several social media platforms and shared a Google Form for people who wish to get the vaccine for their dogs. He wrote on LinkedIn, "A lot of people have been asking if this can be done for their dogs and for people. I'm speaking with everyone involved to see what is possible here."
He added in the form, "It would be my dream to make this process something everyone could have access to. We will get in touch with you and thank you for your enquiry and your support. Rosie and I look forward to making a difference in the lives of her fellow canines."
