CEATEC 2025 featured the usual lineup of AI demos, service robots, and experimental interfaces. But inside Hall 4, a quieter, lab-style booth stood out for a very different reason. There, the RNA Co-creation Consortium demonstrated that RNA extracted from facial sebum can provide insights into the skin’s condition and support better day-to-day cosmetic choices.
The booth’s theme, “RNA-Tech Driven Society – A new standard of living redefined by RNA-Tech,” reflected this ambition. The consortium unveiled an ecosystem—one part lab science, one part smartphone interface, and one part retail experience—built around the idea that your skin’s RNA is a valuable source of information, and that this signal can be translated into an easy, consumer-friendly experience.
Most people choose skincare through guesswork, but this technology replaces guesswork with real biological insight. By analyzing RNA in skin oil—or inferring it through a selfie—the system can understand what your skin actually needs at that moment. That means fewer wasted products, better results, and a routine that adapts to stress, weather, and lifestyle changes. It is an early look at how biotech and AI could make skincare simpler, more personalized, and more reliable for everyone.
A Cross-Industry Approach to Rethinking Skin DataThe RNA Co-creation Consortium was founded in March 2024 by Kao Corporation and istyle Inc., the company behind the influential Japanese @cosme beauty platform. Since then, partners from multiple industries—including KOSÉ, MatsukiyoCocokara, Kirin, Perfect Corp., and Healthcare Systems—have joined. Each brings a different piece of the puzzle: Kao contributes biological R&D and wet-lab expertise; istyle brings its consumer reach and app infrastructure; and others add perspectives on cosmetics, wellness, and retail.
The consortium’s mission is to create new standards for how people choose beauty and health products. Behind the marketing language lies a clear scientific foundation. Over the past several years, Kao researchers have established that RNA is present in human sebum, which can be collected easily using everyday oil blotting films. More importantly, these RNA molecules remain intact enough for gene-expression analysis. Unlike DNA, which remains constant, RNA fluctuates in response to physical and environmental factors, such as diet, exercise, stress, and UV exposure, as well as broader lifestyle factors.
This led to Sebum RNA Monitoring, Kao’s pipeline for extracting RNA from sebum and analyzing its expression patterns across thousands of genes. When researchers compared hundreds of profiles, distinct clusters appeared. Two of the most robust were labeled C1 and C2. C1 is enriched for keratinization-related genes related to barrier function, while C2 is associated with immune-response genes. These categories do not replace classic skin-type labels—dry, oily, combination—but they provide a more biologically grounded lens into how the skin is behaving internally.
This is the foundation upon which the consortium wants to build a new user experience. RNA becomes the objective signal. The consortium’s companies build services around it. And consumers gain access to diagnostics that feel both personalized and scientifically grounded.
How Sebum RNA Monitoring Works
Visual display boards at the booth walked visitors through Kao’s full sebum RNA workflow. The process begins with sebum collection using a simple oil blotting film pressed onto the skin. In the lab, the RNA is extracted, refined, and passed into a comprehensive analysis pipeline. The system measures gene expression across thousands of RNA species, producing a snapshot of biological activity. Because RNA fluctuates with daily conditions, it reflects the skin’s condition at that moment rather than a fixed classification.
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