Sydney tech entrepreneur Paul Conyngham has done something researchers at major pharma companies are still working toward: design a personalized mRNA cancer vaccine using AI tools — and it worked.

The Story

Conyngham adopted Rosie, an eight-year-old staffy-Shar Pei cross, in 2019. In 2024, Rosie was diagnosed with mast cell cancer — the most common canine skin cancer — with large tumors appearing on one of her back legs. Veterinary chemotherapy slowed the spread but failed to shrink the masses.

With few options left, Conyngham turned to AI. He used ChatGPT to brainstorm treatment strategies and guide the DNA analysis process, and AlphaFold to help model protein structures from Rosie's sequenced tumor DNA. The resulting sequence was handed to Páll Thordarson, director of UNSW's RNA Institute, who produced the world's first custom mRNA cancer vaccine for a dog — in under two months.

The Results

The vaccine was administered at the University of Queensland under ethics approval. Within a month, Rosie's tumor had shrunk by 75%. In December 2025 she was losing mobility; by January 2026 she was jumping over fences to chase rabbits.

"I think it's added considerable life and healthspan to Rosie," Conyngham told Australia's Today Show.

What It Means

Thordarson said the approach "absolutely" could apply to human cancer patients. "We can democratise this technology in Australia," he said — noting the process proved viable without relying on multinational pharma pipelines. The team is now sequencing a tumor that didn't respond to the vaccine to study resistance.

Moderna and others are working on personalized cancer vaccines, but this case is a striking proof of concept for what a motivated engineer with AI tools and academic partners can accomplish.