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 testing compared with nightly hormone curve tracking A hormone curve crosses the night. One coral point marks what a typical snapshot test sees, while a teal shaded range follows the full nightly curve Cicada is designed to track. Cicada: overnight range Typical test: one point 10 PM 2 AM 6 AM
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.

01

Snapshots miss dynamics

Hormones are rhythmic, pulsatile, and context-dependent. A single draw often captures one moment, not the movie.

02

Tracking is fragmented

People rely on notes, apps, lab portals, symptom logs, and memory. The result is noisy, incomplete, and hard to interpret.

03

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.

Exploded product render of a clear oral mouthguard wearable with sensing and readout layers
S

Salivary collection

Passive, repeated collection during sleep instead of daytime spit tests or blood draws.

A

Aptamer recognition

Synthetic recognition elements are being explored for target-specific molecular binding.

E

Electrochemical readout

A compact sensing approach intended to fit a wearable hardware path.

T

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

Kanishk Tantia

Founder

Product, software, data systems, and company-building.

Jolie Lerner

Jolie Lerner

Founder

Biomedical engineering, device development, and user-centered design.

Alexandra Crew

Alexandra Crew

Founder

Healthcare strategy, commercialization, and market access.