His grandfather died of pancreatic cancer: This Hyderabad startup founder is using AI to develop a personalised cancer vaccines

A personal loss dating back decades has become part of the story behind an ambitious biotechnology project in Hyderabad. Soham Sankaran, founder and CEO of biotech startup PopVax, is working on personalised cancer treatments using artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and messenger RNA (mRNA) technology. His grandfather, P. Sankaran, died of cancer in 1979 when Soham's father was just 19. The disease had spread to his grandfather's liver, although it likely originated in the pancreas.

Nearly five decades later, Sankaran is attempting to use advances in AI and biotechnology to develop treatments that can help the immune system recognise and attack cancer cells. His company is developing personalised cancer vaccines based on the genetic characteristics of individual tumours.

PopVax has also launched an integrated research, development and manufacturing facility called RNA Foundry in Hyderabad, in collaboration with Stochastic Sciences. The facility is expected to support the development of personalised RNA medicines and accelerate the company's cancer research programme.


In a particularly ambitious project, PopVax is working on an experimental personalised cancer immunotherapy for Yash Bindal, a 33-year-old pancreatic cancer patient. The company hopes to use generative AI and its mRNA technology to develop treatments tailored to his tumour. But who is Soham Sankaran, why did he enter the biotechnology sector, and how does he plan to use AI to fight cancer?

Who is Soham Sankaran, the founder of PopVax?

Soham Sankaran is an entrepreneur and computer scientist who founded PopVax in late 2021. He studied computer science at Yale University and later joined the computer science PhD programme at Cornell University. However, he left his doctoral programme to pursue entrepreneurship. Before entering biotechnology, he founded a Y Combinator-backed startup that worked on software for robotics and industrial automation.

His transition from computer science to vaccine development was not conventional. Sankaran has written that he had limited knowledge of biology beyond high school when he began exploring the field. His interest in computational biology, artificial intelligence and protein design eventually led him towards biotechnology. He saw an opportunity to apply machine learning techniques to vaccine development and build a company that could take scientific ideas from computational design to actual manufacturing.

PopVax began operations in late 2021. The company initially focused on developing broadly protective vaccines using computational protein design and mRNA technology.

His grandfather died of cancer. How did this personal loss influence his work?

Sankaran shared the story of his grandfather in an essay published in April 2026, titled 'One hundred million silver bullets: Generative medicine vs. cancer'. He wrote that he never met his paternal grandfather, P. Sankaran, who died in January 1979 at the age of 56.

His grandfather's cancer had spread to his liver, but Sankaran believes it most likely originated in the pancreas. He survived for around six months after diagnosis and underwent chemotherapy before his death.


The experience left a lasting impression on the family. Sankaran described how his father, who was 19 at the time, desperately tried to find a way to save his father. Nearly five decades later, another pancreatic cancer case brought the disease closer to his work.

Sankaran's company began exploring an experimental personalised treatment for Yash Bindal, a 33-year-old pancreatic cancer patient and father of a young daughter named Maya. In his essay, Sankaran explained that the company wanted to use advances in generative AI and protein design to develop personalised cancer immunotherapies.

The objective is to create treatments that could help slow tumour growth and potentially extend the patient's life. However, the company has acknowledged that it cannot guarantee the treatment will work. For Sankaran, the immediate goal is to explore whether the experimental treatment can shrink the tumours or prevent further progression. The longer-term ambition is to give the patient more time with his family.

How is PopVax using AI to develop personalised cancer vaccines?

PopVax is combining artificial intelligence, machine learning, tumour genetic sequencing and mRNA technology to develop cancer treatments tailored to individual patients. The approach is based on the fact that cancer is not genetically identical in every person. Tumours can carry different mutations, which may result in the production of abnormal proteins.

Some of these proteins can act as identifying markers for the immune system. Scientists call them neoantigens. The process begins with sequencing the genetic material of a patient's tumour. Researchers then analyse the data to identify mutations that could produce potential neoantigens.

AI and machine-learning models help identify and prioritise these targets. This is important because not every mutation in a tumour will produce a protein capable of triggering a useful immune response. Once promising targets are identified, researchers can use them to design personalised mRNA vaccine candidates.

The objective is to give the immune system instructions that help it recognise proteins associated with the patient's cancer and mount a targeted response. Unlike a standardised vaccine designed for a large population, a personalised cancer vaccine is developed around the genetic characteristics of an individual patient's tumour.

How does an mRNA cancer vaccine train the immune system?

PopVax is using an mRNA-lipid nanoparticle (LNP) platform for its personalised cancer vaccine programme. Messenger RNA carries genetic instructions that tell cells how to produce specific proteins. This technology became widely known during the Covid-19 pandemic, when mRNA vaccines were used to prepare the immune system to recognise the coronavirus.

The cancer vaccine approach uses the same underlying technology but targets tumour-related proteins instead. Scientists design an mRNA sequence containing instructions for producing selected tumour antigens. The mRNA is then packaged inside lipid nanoparticles, which protect the genetic material and help deliver it into cells.

After entering the cells, the mRNA provides temporary instructions to produce the selected proteins. These proteins can then be processed and presented to the immune system. This process is intended to activate immune responses, including T cells, that can recognise and attack cancer cells carrying the corresponding markers.

The technology does not require the mRNA to enter the cell nucleus or change a person's DNA. The genetic instructions are temporary and are eventually broken down by the body. However, identifying the right tumour targets and generating an effective immune response remain major scientific challenges. Laboratory research and clinical trials are necessary to establish whether these vaccines can improve patient outcomes.

When will PopVax's cancer vaccines be available to patients?

PopVax's personalised cancer vaccine candidates are still experimental. They have not yet been established as approved cancer treatments. The company plans to initially work with a small group of doctors and patients outside India. It has discussed making personalised treatments available through named-patient and compassionate-use pathways by the end of 2026, subject to regulatory approvals.

These pathways are not the same as routine approval of a medicine for general use. Each vaccine candidate will require appropriate safety assessments and clinical evidence to establish whether it works. The company has already taken another mRNA vaccine candidate into human testing. On August 31, 2026, the first two participants received its broadly protective Covid-19 vaccine candidate in a Phase I clinical trial in Melbourne, Australia.

However, this is a separate vaccine programme. Its progress does not establish the safety or effectiveness of PopVax's experimental cancer vaccines.

Can personalised cancer vaccines change cancer treatment?

Personalised cancer vaccines are attracting attention because they could help the immune system recognise specific mutations associated with an individual's tumour. Several international research programmes are investigating the approach.

For example, pharmaceutical companies Moderna and Merck have been studying a personalised mRNA cancer vaccine alongside the immunotherapy drug Keytruda for melanoma, a type of skin cancer.

The findings from that programme have generated interest in the potential of personalised mRNA treatments. However, results from one company's clinical trials cannot be used to establish the effectiveness of another company's vaccine. There are still several challenges.

Cancer cells can develop new mutations, change their behaviour and sometimes evade immune responses. A vaccine that identifies certain tumour markers may not necessarily eliminate every cancer cell. Researchers also need to determine how long the immune response lasts, which patients are most likely to benefit and whether the treatment can prevent cancer from returning.

Manufacturing costs, access to genetic sequencing and regulatory requirements will also influence how widely personalised cancer vaccines can be used.