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Gamgee

Curing cancer. Starting with dogs.

​Gamgee began with Rosie, founder Paul Conyngham’s dog. After surgery, chemotherapy and immunotherapy failed, Rosie was given months to live. Paul used AI and genomic analysis to identify targets in her tumour, then worked with scientists at UNSW to produce what is believed to be the first fully computationally designed mRNA cancer vaccine delivered to a dog. Following treatment, several tumours shrank significantly and her quality of life improved Gamgee is building an end to end platform for personalised mRNA cancer vaccines for dogs. We sequence a dog’s tumour and healthy DNA, identify mutations unique to its cancer, and design a vaccine that teaches the immune system what to attack. We manage the entire process- from vet intake and tissue collection through genomic analysis, vaccine production, treatment and response monitoring ​We are now turning that one off effort into a repeatable clinical system. Gamgee is running clinical trials in Australia, working with vets, oncologists and specialised laboratories, and accepting cases globally. Our goal is to make personalised cancer treatment accessible to every dog that needs it- and use each case to improve the treatment for the next
Active Founders
Paul Conyngham
Paul Conyngham
Founder/CEO
Founder at Gamgee Technologies (YC S26), building personalised mRNA cancer vaccines. Gamgee grew out of my work using AI and genomics to help my dog Rosie fight cancer. Previously co-founded Core Intelligence, building applied AI systems across startups and enterprise, and helped grow Australia’s AI community through DSAI. Background in ML, data science and electrical and computer systems engineering
Company Launches
Gamgee: Personalised mRNA cancer vaccines for dogs
See original launch post

We believe that AI meets biology is the biggest opportunity of the 21st century. We are using AI to build autonomous systems that read biological failure, discover how to control it, and design precise repairs. We are starting with the first computationally personalised mRNA cancer vaccine for dogs.

My dog Rosie was dying of cancer. I designed her an mRNA vaccine. Several of her tumours shrank 50-75%. I am not a biologist - I spent 17 years in machine learning. Doing it by hand took a year and around $20,000. Gamgee is turning that process into software. Our target is a vaccine design in 48 hours and an end-to-end cost of $2,000

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Jb41jTc0U0

How it works

  • We send you a collection kit to take to your vet or veterinary oncologist. Your vet collects the tumour and matched healthy samples, which are returned for DNA and RNA sequencing.
  • Our software finds and ranks the mutations worth targeting, and keeps the evidence behind every call.
  • Out comes an mRNA vaccine design ready for manufacture. Gamgee designs the vaccine and oversees and coordinates every step through to administration by the treating veterinarian.


The market

Approximately six million dogs are diagnosed with cancer every year in the United States, and cancer is the leading cause of death in adult dogs. Owners who pursue specialist treatment spend thousands on surgery, chemotherapy and radiation.


The compounding data advantage

Every dog we treat returns sequencing, immune and outcome data for a species where datasets remain scarce. That data improves target selection, which improves the next vaccine, which produces better data. We are not just early to the problem - we are the ones accumulating the data that solves it.


Proof so far

  • Full computational pipeline built and executed end-to-end as a non-biologist using AI
  • 50-75% shrinkage in the responsive tumours. 
  • Microscopic analysis found substantial IBA1+ macrophage and CD3+ T-cell infiltration in Rosie’s responsive lesions, with little in the non-responsive tumour.
  • Second-generation vaccine completed and ready
  • Over a billion impressions on Rosie's story.
  • Backed by Y Combinator (S26) 

Rosie was one patient. Our next step, already well underway, is a clinician-led trial in 30 dogs to evaluate safety, immune response and clinical outcomes.


Why dogs first, and not only dogs

Most modern dog breeds were created within the last few hundred years from small founder populations and then bred within closed gene pools. This concentrates inherited cancer risk, leaving many breeds unusually prone to particular cancers.

Pet dogs develop cancer naturally, not in a laboratory. Their immune systems are intact and their disease progresses on timelines that let us learn quickly. Dogs are a real market in their own right and the fastest place to get good at personalised cancer vaccines.


Our ask

  • If your dog has cancer, please do get in touch about our upcoming clinical trial.
  • Veterinary oncologists and specialty hospitals who want to be a trial site.
  • Investors in longevity or personalised medicine - would rather meet you before the trial reads out than after.

We are building Gamgee so that no other dog waits for hope which arrives too late.

Reach me at paul@gamgee.io or gamgee.io

I love you Rosie.

Gamgee
Founded:2026
Batch:Summer 2026
Team Size:2
Status:
Active
Location:San Francisco
Primary Partner:Tyler Bosmeny