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.