Sungkyunkwan University Research Team Develops Standardized Technology for cell free (cf) RNA Extraction and Analysis

Pioneering a New Horizon in Liquid Biopsy for Early Disease Diagnosis and Therapeutic Target Discovery

Published as the first author in the prestigious international journal Nature (U.S.)

Integrative Biotechnology

Prof. JEON, YOUNG-JUN

Suwon, South Korea – A research team led by Professor Young-Jun Jeon from the Department of Integrative Biotechnology at Sungkyunkwan University, in collaboration with Stanford University School of Medicine, has successfully developed the world's first standardized method for the extraction and bioinformatics-based analysis of cf- transcriptome from human blood samples.



Since the clinical potential of cf-mRNA was first proposed in Science in 2018, its utility has been continuously validated across numerous studies. However, limitations in reproducibility and environmental variability in clinical settings have hindered its translation into actual clinical applications—issues common across all areas of liquid biopsy.



To address these challenges, Professor Young-Jun Jeon initially proposed and began developing this platform during his postdoctoral period at Stanford University in 2016. After joining Sungkyunkwan University in 2020, he continued to refine the methodology through ongoing research and collaboration, ultimately succeeding in standardizing both plasma transcriptome extraction and data generation processes.



A key outcome of the study was the development of the RARE-Seq platform, which focuses on detecting approximately 5,500 rare cf-mRNAs not typically found in healthy individuals. Based on the hypothesis that some of these rare transcripts may serve as biomarkers for various diseases, targeted analysis was performed. The platform demonstrated the highest sensitivity among current liquid biopsy technologies and was validated in pilot clinical studies, including early detection of lung cancer.



Professor Jeon commented, “RARE-Seq, by targeting the transcriptome, enables comprehensive diagnostics and the discovery of patient-specific therapeutic targets across virtually all diseases. Building on this, we have developed an AI-based analytic technology called LUNA-Seq to further maximize the platform’s accuracy.” He added, “We have secured multiple research grants from the National Research Foundation of Korea and are currently conducting clinical research applying this platform to areas such as immunotherapy response prediction in lung cancer, early detection of pancreatic and prostate cancer, bipolar disorder, and Alzheimer's disease.”



- RARE-Seq: A sequencing method designed to selectively analyze genes with low expression levels in healthy individuals to extract disease-specific signals.
- LUNA-Seq: An AI-based analytical platform that enhances RARE-Seq by also analyzing commonly expressed genes to identify disease-specific patterns.

This groundbreaking research was supported by the Basic Research Laboratory program of the National Research Foundation of Korea and conducted in partnership with Stanford University School of Medicine. The findings were published in Nature, one of the most prestigious international journals, showcasing Korea’s world-class capabilities in the field of liquid biopsy.



- Title of the Paper: An ultrasensitive method for detection of cell-free RNA
- Journal: Nature
- DOI: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-08834-1
- Corresponding Author: Maximilian Diehn
- First Author: Young-Jun Jeon