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NEW CANCER VACCINE EXPLAINED A new AI-assisted mRNA cancer vaccine...
Harper Carroll@HarperSCarroll
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Aug 22, 2026
~1 min read
NEW CANCER VACCINE EXPLAINED
A new AI-assisted mRNA cancer vaccine candidate is showing a lot of promise for reducing the recurrence (not “curing,” I misspoke) of melanoma, and the technique could be applied to other cancers.
Here’s an explanation of how it works.
When I recorded this video, I thought that the vaccine just had one protein fragment (“structure” isn’t the technically accurate term) that it targeted, but it actually can include up to 34, and most of the vaccines given to melanoma patients did have all 34 included. Part of what AI does is it helps prioritize which of the protein fragments (encoded by the mutations) should be included in the vaccine – i.e. which are the best immune targets.
Cancer immunology is definitely outside of my realm of expertise, but this is my attempt to explain the technology. Of course I always welcome feedback!
A new AI-assisted mRNA cancer vaccine candidate is showing a lot of promise for reducing the recurrence (not “curing,” I misspoke) of melanoma, and the technique could be applied to other cancers.
Here’s an explanation of how it works.
When I recorded this video, I thought that the vaccine just had one protein fragment (“structure” isn’t the technically accurate term) that it targeted, but it actually can include up to 34, and most of the vaccines given to melanoma patients did have all 34 included. Part of what AI does is it helps prioritize which of the protein fragments (encoded by the mutations) should be included in the vaccine – i.e. which are the best immune targets.
Cancer immunology is definitely outside of my realm of expertise, but this is my attempt to explain the technology. Of course I always welcome feedback!
If you’re new here, hi!! I’m Harper. I’ve spent a decade building AI as a Stanford computer scientist and coding AI systems at places like Meta, and now I hope to share the skills and intuition I’ve developed with you.
For my (free) 10 Days of AI Basics series + more: harpercarroll.ai/#video-guide
For my (free) 10 Days of AI Basics series + more: harpercarroll.ai/#video-guide
