In 2025, Sydney tech entrepreneur Paul Conyngham used ChatGPT and AI tools to help design a personalised mRNA cancer vaccine for his rescue dog Rosie, a staffy–Shar Pei cross diagnosed with mast cell cancer. After conventional chemotherapy slowed but failed to shrink the tumours, Conyngham used AI to help sequence Rosie's tumour DNA, identify mutations, and design an mRNA vaccine. The vaccine was manufactured at the UNSW RNA Institute and administered under ethics approval at the University of Queensland. Rosie received her first injection in December 2025, followed by a booster in early 2026. Results became visible about a month after treatment, with the primary tumour shrinking by approximately 75%, though at least one tumour did not respond.
This resolves based on my subjective judgment of whether the result appears to be a legitimate, real therapeutic effect — not a fluke, misattribution, or hype cycle. I will resolve by end of 2027.
Examples of things that would push toward YES:
-Rosie shows sustained tumour reduction or long-term survival well beyond what vets expected
-The involved scientists (Thordarson, Allavena, Smith) publish or present the case formally
-Other dogs are treated with a similar approach and show comparable responses
-A peer-reviewed study validates the methodology
-Credible oncologists or immunologists publicly endorse the approach as scientifically sound
Examples of things that would push toward NO:
-Rosie's tumours return quickly and her outcome is roughly what was expected without the vaccine
-Scientists involved distance themselves from the story or clarify that results were overstated
-Experts identify that the tumour shrinkage is better explained by delayed chemotherapy effects or spontaneous regression
-The story quietly disappears with no follow-up data, replication, or scientific publication
- Evidence emerges that key claims (e.g. the 75% shrinkage figure) were exaggerated or poorly measured
Feel free to clarify in comments.
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@AIBear yeah, I would resolve no if for example chatgpt did a google search for the phone number to the University and nothing else, then he paid them to do it. If it wrote the code to successfully pull out the mutations to target then that counts. I am less sceptical he had an llm do most of the digital steps, more sceptical it's novel and effective.
Seems legitimate. Doesn't look like it helped that much though.
Where'd you get that 75% shrinkage figure? USNW's article is much more realistic about what happened.
https://news.unsw.edu.au/en/paul-is-using-ai-to-fight-his-dogs-incurable-cancer
@billyhumblebrag Looks like that site got a lot of its information from here: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/technology/tech-boss-uses-ai-and-chatgpt-to-create-cancer-vaccine-for-his-dying-dog/news-story/292a21bcbe93efa17810bfcfcdfadbf7
Remember the quote about the rabbit? The full quote is "Six weeks post-treatment, I was at the dog park when she spotted a rabbit and jumped the fence to chase it. 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." - Paul
The article from The Australian is less hype-ey about it, although it's still a little melodramatic I would say