ChatGPT Helps Create AI Cancer Vaccine That Shrinks Dog’s Tumor

A man named Paul Conyngham successfully developing "a custom mRNA cancer vaccine" with the help of ChatGPT that shrunk a tennis ball-sized tumor in his dog's hock by 50%. Martin Smith, an associate professor of computational biology and director of the Ramaciotti Centre for Genomics at the University of NSW then thought, "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."

So, how did Mr. Conyngham produce a successful mRNA vaccine to treat his dog Rosie's cancer? Simply put, he did not work alone. Conyngham is a Sydney tech entrepreneur with 17 years of experience in machine learning and data analysis, and after spending thousands of dollars on chemotherapy and surgery, he turned to ChatGPT to brainstorm an action plan to cure to Rosie's cancer. ChatGPT directed him to the UNSW Ramaciotti Centre for Genomics, where he was able to get the dog's DNA sequenced and identify mutations related to the cancer.


After shelling out $3000 for the DNA sequencing, Conyngham proceeded to run it through "a whole bunch of different (data) pipelines to find these mutations, and then I used other algorithms to find drugs to treat the cancer," including AlphaFold. From that information he and UNSW were able to find a drug that could treat the cancer, but its only existing provider "refused to supply it for compassionate use". This denial prompted the custom vaccine developmen instead, and with the help of Pall Thordarson, director of the UNSW RNA institute, a half-page formula was created. Thordarson pointed out to The Australian that "this is the first time a personalized cancer vaccine has been designed for a dog" and that "What Rosie is teaching us is that personalized medicine can be very effective, and done in a time-sensitive manner, with mRNA technology."

After acquiring ethical approval to use the vaccine (which took three months), it was applied in Winter of 2025 and successfully improved the dog's health. With half of the targeted tumor shrunk, Conyngham stated that "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." With an additional custom vaccine planned to target the rest of the cancer reported by The Australian, the story isn't over yet. It's nice to report on something uplifting that's AI-related in lieu of nuclear war and security issues.

Image Credit: John Feder via The Australian