Taiwan’s CancerFree Biotech Selected for Final Stage of OIST Startup Accelerator, Pushing Boundaries in Personalized Cancer Care

In a bold move to foster a thriving “lab-to-market” innovation ecosystem, the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) continues to attract cutting-edge startups from around the globe. This year, teams from 29 countries applied to its prestigious startup accelerator, and Taiwan’s CancerFree Biotech has successfully advanced to the final stage.

Founded in 2011, OIST has quickly risen to international prominence. In less than eight years, it claimed the No. 9 spot globally and No. 1 in Japan in the Nature Index ranking of research institutions.

Selected startups in the program gain not only early-stage funding and mentorship, but also access to OIST’s world-class research infrastructure, including supercomputing resources, advanced electron microscopes, and comprehensive gene sequencing platforms. Participants can also collaborate directly with OIST researchers, accelerating the translation of scientific innovation into real-world applications.

CancerFree Biotech, with its pioneering “Avatar Medicine” technology, shares OIST’s mission to harness science for the betterment of humanity. The company specializes in cultivating tumor cells from patient blood samples, enabling lab-based testing of multiple drug responses before treatment begins.

This technology acts as a personalized surrogate, allowing doctors to “test drive” therapies in the lab. By identifying the most promising treatment paths, physicians can make better-informed decisions, reduce trial-and-error, and give patients greater confidence and direction in their cancer journey.

Through collaboration with OIST, CancerFree Biotech aims to accelerate its entry into the Japanese market and leverage advanced research resources to study how genetic diversity affects tumor development and drug response across populations. Together, the partnership is poised to advance the future of precision oncology—making cancer treatment more individualized, effective, and globally accessible.