Talk about being a dedicated paw-rent.
When his 8-year-old dog Rosie had mere months to live due to deadly mast cell cancerous tumors, Australian tech entrepreneur Paul Conyngham took matters into his own hands.
After spending thousands of dollars on chemotherapy and surgery for little payoff, Conyngham paired up with an unusual partner to find a cure — ChatGPT.
He asked the chatbot to find possible cures for Rosie’s cancer, using the suggestion of immunotherapy, and then asked the UNSW Ramaciotti Centre for Genomics to sequence his dog’s DNA.
“We often get oddball queries, and this one was coming from a private individual looking to sequence his dog,” UNSW associate professor Martin Smith told The Australian. “DNA sequencing is a way to profile the tumor and identify mutations that might be causing the disease.”
After paying $3,000 for the sequencing, the tech founder used his 17 years of experience in machine learning and data analysis to process the genetic data of the tumor.
He ran it through various data pipelines to find mutated proteins from the tumor, then matched them to drugs that could cure the cancer and created a blueprint for an mRNA vaccine.
Conyngham was persistent in asking Smith and the team at UNSW for help in synthesizing the compound to form a treatment, which motivated them to help the dog dad out.
However, they hit a roadblock when they discovered an immunotherapy drug produced by a pharmaceutical company and were denied use.
They quickly found a solution — the world’s first personalized mRNA cancer vaccine, designed by Pall Thordarson, director of the UNSW RNA Institute, using some of Conyngham’s code.
There was still the hurdle of getting ethics approval to clear.
“The red tape was actually harder than the vaccine creation, and I was trying to get an Australian ethics approval to run a drug trial on Rosie,” Conyngham told The Australian. “It took me three months, putting two hours aside every single night just typing up this 100-page document.”
Fortunately, Rachel Allavena, a canine immunotherapy professor at the University of Queensland’s School of Veterinary Science, was able to step in and help the process along thanks to her work researching and developing experimental immunotherapies.
Once created, the bespoke vaccine was delivered to Allavena’s laboratory in Gatton — a 10-hour drive for Rosie and Conyngham.
After making the trip, Rosie received her first shot in December, followed by a booster shot last month and another due this week.
The results have left researchers stunned.
While her cancer was advanced, the once tennis-ball-sized tumor on Rosie’s leg is now half the size, leaving her with a glossier coat and happier disposition.
Her treatment continues to be a howling success, with most of her tumors continuing to shrink and disappear.
While Conyngham works on a second vaccine to treat another tumor that didn’t respond to the first treatment, he has noticed the vast difference between his dog’s health and energy.
“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,” he said.
Meanwhile, Smith hopes this inspires advancements in cancer treatments for humans.
“It raises the question, if we can do this for a dog, why aren’t we rolling this out to all humans with cancer?” he said. “It gives hope to a lot of people, and it’s something we’re passionate about trying to chase up here.”
