Snapshots miss dynamics
Hormones are rhythmic, pulsatile, and context-dependent. A single draw often captures one moment, not the movie.
Research-stage biosensing
Cicada Health
Continuous hormone insight, captured nightly.
Cicada Health is developing a non-invasive salivary biosensing platform for longitudinal hormone insight, starting with a sleep-time oral wearable and early benchtop validation.
Research-stage technology. Not available for sale. Not for diagnosis, treatment, or medical decision-making.
Hormone signal across one night
Illustrative concept, not patient data
Single-point view
One sample can land anywhere on a moving signal and miss timing, slope, and variability.
Nightly curve view
A repeated overnight window can reveal the shape of the signal, not just the value at one moment.
Why this matters
Hormones move. Most testing is still static.
One-off testing can miss patterns that unfold across nights, cycles, treatments, sleep, stress, and symptoms. Cicada is building toward lower-burden longitudinal measurement.
Tracking is fragmented
People rely on notes, apps, lab portals, symptom logs, and memory. The result is noisy, incomplete, and hard to interpret.
Saliva can reduce friction
Saliva creates a path toward repeated, non-invasive measurement, especially for hormones that appear as free dynamic signals.
What we are building
A platform for nightly hormone patterns.
The first product concept pairs a sleep-time oral wearable with salivary sensing and a software layer designed around trends.
Salivary collection
Passive, repeated collection during sleep instead of daytime spit tests or blood draws.
Aptamer recognition
Synthetic recognition elements are being explored for target-specific molecular binding.
Electrochemical readout
A compact sensing approach intended to fit a wearable hardware path.
Trend-first software
Longitudinal summaries and context, without diagnosis or treatment direction.
Evidence path
From benchtop signal to validated use.
Cicada is focused on proving reproducible sensor response in controlled salivary conditions before making product or clinical claims.
Benchtop prototype
Establish a repeatable signal under controlled test conditions.
Saliva matrix testing
Stress-test sensor behavior in realistic salivary environments.
Wearable form factor
Move from lab workflow toward an overnight oral device concept.
Clinical validation
Evaluate performance and use cases through the appropriate evidence pathway.
Science signposts
Relevant research and context.
A concise reading list for the sensing architecture, adjacent wearable work, and endocrine health context behind the R&D path.
Real-time molecular monitoring with EAB sensors
Downs & Plaxco, ACS Sensors
Open
RAPTER: aptamer-enabled LH pulsatility
Liang et al., Nature Communications
Open
Wearable aptamer nanobiosensor for estradiol in sweat
Ye et al., Nature Nanotechnology
Open
Non-invasive mouthguard biosensor for salivary lactate
Kim et al., Analyst
Open
Team
Building across health, hardware, and data.
Cicada Health brings together product, biomedical engineering, and commercialization work around a focused hormone sensing platform.
Kanishk Tantia
Founder
Ex-Microsoft, Harvard Business School and Harvard SEAS.
Jolie Lerner
Founder
Ex-10XBeta, Harvard Business School and Harvard SEAS.
Experience
Affiliated with
Logos reflect the team's prior roles, education, and program participation. Shown for biographical context only; no organizational endorsement or sponsorship is implied.
NSF I-Corps
