A technology has been developed that can rapidly diagnose cancer in just 20 minutes with a sensitivity 1,000 times higher than existing technology, and it is expected to be applied in various medical fields in the future.

A research team led by Dr. Ho-Sang Jeong of the Bio and Health Materials Research Center at the Korea Institute of Materials Science (KIMS, President Cheol-Jin Choi) has developed an optical biosensor that can detect very small amounts of cancer cell DNA present in blood with high sensitivity, enabling early diagnosis of cancer.

This technology is far more sensitive and accurate than existing liquid biopsy methods, and is differentiated in that it can diagnose cancer early in a simple way by using artificial intelligence (AI) and light.

When cancer cells develop, chemical changes (methylation) occur on the surface of DNA in the blood. On the other hand, in the early stages of cancer, the concentration of methylated DNA is very low, making it difficult to accurately detect using existing biosensors.

To solve this problem, the research team developed a highly sensitive biosensor material that utilizes light signals and AI analysis. The sensor uses plasmonic materials to amplify light, allowing it to amplify DNA's optical signals by more than 100 million times compared to conventional methods.


Thanks to this, the research team was able to detect methylated DNA at a level of 25 fg/mL (femtogram per milliliter) even in the early stages of cancer.

This is a level that can detect extremely small amounts, equivalent to 25/1,000ths of a grain of sugar in a drop of water, and has a detection capability that is 1,000 times more precise than existing biosensors.

The research team tested the developed biosensor on 60 colon cancer patients, and found that it was able to determine the presence or absence of cancer with 99% accuracy. In addition, it was also successful in distinguishing the stage of cancer progression from stage 1 to stage 4.

The amount of blood required for this analysis process is very small, at 100uL (microliters), and the test time is quick, at less than 20 minutes. It is characterized by rapid early diagnosis without having to go through a complex analysis process like conventional methods.

This technology is expected to be highly competitive in the early cancer diagnosis market as it can detect extremely small amounts of cancer DNA without preprocessing.

In particular, it can be applied in various medical environments such as hospitals, health check-up centers, self-diagnosis kits, and mobile diagnostic equipment, and it is expected to be utilized not only in precision medicine but also in point-of-care diagnosis (POCT).

Senior Researcher Jeong Ho-sang, who is in charge of the study, said, “This technology is a next-generation diagnostic platform that can not only diagnose cancer early, but also predict prognosis and analyze treatment responses,” adding, “We plan to expand the scope of application to various diseases such as autoimmune diseases and neurological diseases in the future.”

This study was conducted with the support of the National Research Foundation of Korea’s Biomedical Technology Development Project, the Materials Global Young Connect Project, and the Korea Institute of Materials Science’s Basic Project.

The research results were published on May 9 in the May 2025 issue of the world-renowned academic journal 'Advanced Science (IF: 14.3)'.