XenoHelix won the "2026 Seoul-Roche Diagnostics Startup Sprint Demo Day" jointly hosted by Seoul Bio Hub and Roche Diagnostics Korea on September 10. (From left) Hyun-woo Kim, Head of Seoul Bio Hub; Sung-wook Yang, CEO of XenoHelix; and Hyoung-joo Kim, APAC Head of Innovation and Partnering at Roche Diagnostics.

 

Sung-wook Yang, CEO of XenoHelix, explains "miRNA marker analysis (proprietary technology - step diagnostics)."

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"Diagnostics are evolving beyond merely detecting diseases to identifying risks in advance and supporting more evidence-based treatment decisions."

These are the words of Hyoung-joo Kim, APAC Head of Innovation and Partnering at Roche Diagnostics.

 

The role of diagnostic technology is expanding beyond disease confirmation to capturing risks in daily life early and connecting them to necessary tests and medical services. Domestic bio-healthcare startups are responding to these changes by utilizing AI, wearables, and molecular diagnostic technologies. In particular, going beyond technology development, clinical validation and overseas commercialization leveraging the platforms and networks of global diagnostic companies are emerging as core challenges.

At the "2026 Seoul-Roche Diagnostics Startup Sprint Demo Day" held at the Seoul Bio Hub in Dongdaemun-gu on September 10, 2026, six startups selected through Roche Diagnostics' technical evaluation out of 40 applicants unveiled their technologies and business models.

The participating companies in this demo day were ARSLON Inc., Foretell My Health Inc., Samsin, SynergyAI, Uniwon PharmGene Co. Ltd., and XENOHELIX.

The participating companies presented diverse diagnostic technologies, including female ovarian reserve and reproductive planning support, smartwatch-based blood biomarker abnormality risk prediction, AI ECG-based coronary artery disease screening, graphene oxide-based molecular diagnostics, microRNA (miRNA)-based multi-disease risk stratification, and platelet-based early cancer screening.

The common topic was commercialization. Rather than just presenting technical performance, they proposed collaboration models to create clinical validation and actual testing demand, and connect to global markets by utilizing Roche Diagnostics' diagnostic platforms and global networks.

 

XenoHelix, a company developing miRNA-based precision diagnostic technology, was selected as the final winner. The winning company will be provided with KRW 30 million in research funding, partnering opportunities with global experts from Roche Diagnostics, and an opportunity to move into the Seoul Bio Hub.

"We are grateful for the positive evaluation of XenoHelix's technology and for opening up possibilities for collaboration with Roche," said Sung-wook Yang, CEO of XenoHelix, after receiving the award. "Based on Roche's expertise and advice, we will advance our technology to develop it into a system that can contribute to actual patient diagnostics."

"The competition was fierce, so the process of Roche selecting six companies itself was not easy," said Hyun-woo Kim, Head of Seoul Bio Hub. "Roche also expressed its intention to continue collaboration not only with this winning company but also with other participating pipelines if their future directions align."

He continued, "Seoul Bio Hub is also ready to support company growth," stressing that "Once selected as a resident company, we will provide combined support ranging from investment and research to business development (BD)."

"Diagnostics are evolving beyond merely detecting diseases to identifying risks in advance and supporting treatment decisions," Hyoung-joo Kim said. "When startups' innovative technologies combine with Roche Diagnostics' global network, it can open up new possibilities for patients worldwide." Roche Diagnostics plans to review additional cooperation with companies whose technology and business directions align, in addition to the selected company.

 

XenoHelix Stratifies Multi-Disease Risk with Direct miRNA Detection Platform 'XENO-Q'

Sung-wook Yang, CEO of XenoHelix, presented the "XENO-Q Multi-Disease Risk Stratification Platform" on this day. XENO-Q is a technology that bypasses the adapter ligation and reverse transcription processes used in conventional miRNA analysis; instead, the XENO-Sensor directly recognizes the target miRNA and converts it into an amplifiable product for quantification.

XenoHelix is applying this to differential diagnostics for Parkinson's disease (PD) and Multiple System Atrophy (MSA), as well as Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease (MASLD) screening by combining miRNA, SNP, and FIB-4.

 

"Because miRNA lacks a standardized detection method, it has faced difficulties being utilized as a biomarker," CEO Yang said. "We developed the XENO-Q method, which reduces the steps where issues can occur in conventional analytical processes and directly detects and amplifies miRNA with our independently developed sensor."

While conventional methods consume analysis time by going through multiple stages of adapter ligation and the use of reverse transcriptase, XENO-Q simplifies the process using a nanosensor system. XENO-Q consists of three steps and can detect targets within one hour.

XenoHelix plans to expand its application scope to health screenings and primary care based on the clinical and research results of PD/MSA differentiation and MASLD screening using XENO-Q.

With Roche Diagnostics, the company proposed collaboration models including joint assay development, pilot screening, and multi-center validation studies utilizing the APAC network and the LightCycler platform.

"We can pursue joint assay development, APAC pilot screening, and multi-center validation studies, and it can be directly applied to the LightCycler as well," Yang stated.