Adaptyx Biosciences Presents First-In-Human Continuous Multi-Day Free Cortisol Data from Wearable Sensor at ADA, Showing Time-Resolved Hormone Signals for Metabolic and Health Insights
Adaptyx Biosciences, a Stanford University spinout focused on continuous molecular biosensing technologies, has reported a major clinical milestone with the first continuous, multi-day measurement of free cortisol in humans. The findings were presented at the American Diabetes Association’s 86th Scientific Sessions and represent an early demonstration of a wearable biosensor capable of tracking real-time hormone dynamics directly from dermal interstitial fluid.
The company’s results come from two first-in-human studies designed to validate both the accuracy and physiological relevance of its wearable cortisol monitoring system. Together, the studies show that Adaptyx’s sensor can track pharmacologically induced cortisol changes as well as naturally occurring circadian hormone rhythms over extended periods of daily life activity. According to the company, this marks a shift away from traditional single-point hormone testing toward continuous endocrine monitoring with potential clinical and research applications across multiple disease areas.
First Continuous View of Free Cortisol in Humans
Cortisol is one of the most important regulatory hormones in the human body, influencing metabolism, immune function, cardiovascular tone, cognition, and stress response. Despite its central role in physiology, clinicians today rely on indirect or snapshot-based testing methods that capture only isolated moments in time. These include morning serum cortisol measurements, saliva testing, or 24-hour urine collection.
While useful in specific contexts, these conventional approaches have significant limitations. A single blood draw reflects only a momentary concentration. Saliva tests may miss key overnight or diurnal variations. Urine collections capture aggregate hormone output but obscure the timing and shape of cortisol fluctuations throughout the day. As a result, clinicians are often unable to observe the dynamic pattern of cortisol secretion that is critical to understanding endocrine and metabolic disorders.
Adaptyx’s wearable biosensor aims to overcome these limitations by continuously measuring free cortisol levels in dermal interstitial fluid, the biological fluid located just beneath the skin. This allows the device to capture real-time hormonal changes in a minimally invasive manner while patients go about their normal activities.
Two Complementary First-in-Human Studies
To validate the system, Adaptyx conducted two complementary first-in-human studies. The first was a controlled oral hydrocortisone challenge designed to evaluate the sensor’s accuracy in tracking known changes in cortisol levels. Participants were administered a 20 mg oral dose of hydrocortisone, and the wearable sensor output was compared against paired venous blood samples analyzed using gold-standard liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS).
In this study, the wearable signal demonstrated strong concordance with blood-based cortisol measurements, indicating that the sensor was able to reliably track changes in circulating hormone levels. This result provided an important validation anchor, confirming that the device’s readings corresponded closely with established clinical laboratory methods.
The second study focused on overnight and multi-day monitoring in real-world conditions. In this setting, the wearable system captured the natural circadian rhythm of cortisol secretion, including the early morning cortisol awakening response and the overnight nadir. These patterns are typically difficult to characterize using standard clinical testing, which relies on isolated time points that can easily miss critical fluctuations.
By capturing continuous data across sleep and waking cycles, the study demonstrated the device’s ability to reveal hormonal dynamics that are otherwise invisible in routine clinical practice.
Engineering a Continuous Molecular Sensing Platform
At the core of Adaptyx’s technology is a 16-channel molecular sensor array designed to enhance signal reliability and reduce noise. The system incorporates eight cortisol-specific molecular switches and eight control channels, enabling internal redundancy and statistical validation within each subject.
The company reports that its sensor has demonstrated a limit of detection below 1 nanomolar in artificial interstitial fluid environments. In the human studies presented at ADA, the multi-channel architecture showed strong agreement across channels, supporting the robustness of the measurement system over extended periods.
More than 400 hours of in-body monitoring data have been collected across the company’s Institutional Review Board (IRB)-approved clinical program. This dataset is being used to support a planned regulatory pathway for a Class II medical device submission in the United States, positioning the technology as a potential clinical-grade cortisol monitoring system.
DNA-Based Molecular Switch Technology
A key innovation behind the platform is the use of programmable DNA-based molecular switches. Unlike traditional enzymatic biosensors used in devices such as continuous glucose monitors, Adaptyx’s system relies on synthetic DNA structures engineered to change shape when they bind to specific target molecules.
When cortisol binds to these molecular switches, the structural change generates an electrical signal that can be measured continuously by the wearable device. Importantly, this binding process is reversible, allowing the same molecular system to repeatedly detect changes in cortisol concentration over time rather than producing a one-time measurement.
According to the company’s co-founder and Chief Science Officer, Alex Yoshikawa, PhD, continuous cortisol monitoring presents a significantly greater technical challenge than glucose sensing. Cortisol exists at concentrations that are more than one million times lower than glucose, requiring a sensing mechanism that is both highly sensitive and resistant to environmental noise, motion artifacts, and biological variability.
The DNA-based switch system is designed to address these challenges by providing stable, reversible binding with minimal drift, enabling consistent signal output over multiple days of continuous monitoring.
From Single Biomarkers to Multi-Analyte Biosensing
Beyond cortisol, Adaptyx is developing its platform as a general-purpose molecular sensing technology capable of detecting a wide range of analytes. The company states that its molecular switch architecture can be adapted to detect hormones, small molecules, pharmaceutical compounds, peptides, proteins, and electrolytes present in interstitial fluid.
The wearable system is designed as a multi-channel platform capable of simultaneously measuring multiple biomarkers in real time. This capability could allow for integrated physiological monitoring that combines hormonal, metabolic, and pharmacological signals within a single device.
Such an approach could significantly expand the scope of wearable diagnostics, moving beyond single-analyte systems like glucose monitors toward comprehensive molecular health tracking platforms.
Clinical Applications Across Endocrine and Metabolic Disease
Adaptyx is initially focusing its clinical development efforts on two major disease areas where cortisol dysregulation plays a central role: adrenal disorders and cardiometabolic diseases.
In adrenal conditions such as Cushing’s syndrome and adrenal insufficiency, cortisol levels are either chronically elevated or insufficient, respectively. Both conditions can have severe systemic consequences, including metabolic disruption, immune dysfunction, and in some cases life-threatening complications. Continuous cortisol monitoring could provide clinicians with a more precise tool to diagnose, monitor, and adjust treatment for these disorders.
In cardiometabolic disease, cortisol is increasingly recognized as a key modulator of disease progression and treatment response. Conditions such as type 2 diabetes, resistant hypertension, metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), polycystic ovary-related metabolic disorders (recently referred to as PMOS), and osteoporosis may all be influenced by dysregulated cortisol rhythms.
By capturing continuous hormone patterns, Adaptyx’s technology could help clinicians better understand how cortisol contributes to metabolic dysfunction and how it interacts with therapeutic interventions.
Broader Potential in Psychiatry, Critical Care, and Drug Development
Beyond endocrine and metabolic diseases, continuous cortisol monitoring may have applications in psychiatry, where stress hormone dysregulation is implicated in conditions such as depression, anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and bipolar disorder. Continuous measurements could provide objective biological data to complement subjective clinical assessments.
In critical care settings, real-time cortisol monitoring could help track physiological stress responses in conditions such as septic shock, postoperative recovery, and stress-induced hyperglycemia. These insights could potentially guide more precise and timely interventions.
Pharmaceutical companies may also benefit from continuous cortisol data in early-phase clinical trials. By measuring hormone response dynamics shortly after drug administration, researchers could obtain earlier signals of therapeutic effect or biological activity, rather than relying solely on downstream clinical endpoints.
Adaptyx is also exploring consumer-facing applications, including stress monitoring, sleep optimization, metabolic health tracking, and athletic performance enhancement.
Recognition and Future Outlook
In addition to its scientific presentation at the American Diabetes Association meeting, Adaptyx Biosciences was named the winner of the 2026 ADA Innovation Challenge, highlighting the perceived potential of its technology within the diabetes and broader metabolic health research community.
According to CEO Vijit Sabnis, PhD, cortisol represents one of the most influential hormones in human physiology, yet has historically been evaluated using fragmented and low-resolution testing methods. He emphasized that continuous monitoring reveals previously inaccessible patterns in hormone regulation, providing insight into how the body responds to stress, disease, and treatment over time.
The company believes that starting with cortisol establishes a foundation for broader expansion of its biosensing platform. As additional molecular targets are incorporated, Adaptyx aims to build a multi-analyte view of human physiology that moves beyond static laboratory testing toward continuous, real-time molecular health monitoring.
If successful, this approach could fundamentally change how clinicians understand hormonal regulation and how diseases linked to endocrine and metabolic signaling are diagnosed, monitored, and treated.
About Adaptyx Biosciences
Adaptyx Biosciences is a Stanford spinout commercializing more than 18 years of continuous molecular biosensing research from the laboratory of H. Tom Soh, Ph.D., a Stanford professor and Chan Zuckerberg Biohub investigator, as well as technology developed by the laboratory of Joseph M. DeSimone, Ph.D., a Stanford professor, recipient of the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, and co-founder of the 3D printing company Carbon.
Adaptyx holds an exclusive license to nine patents from Stanford covering the underlying technology and has filed 18 additional patents since founding. The leadership team includes Chief Executive Officer Vijit Sabnis, Ph.D., Chief Science Officer Alex Yoshikawa, Chief Technical Officer Pawan Kapur, Ph.D., and Chief Medical and Business Officer Daniel Grossman, M.D.
Adaptyx has raised $23 million in seed financing to date. The company’s Continuous Molecular Monitoring platform uses programmable, DNA-based molecular switches to read hormones, drugs and pharmaceutical compounds, electrolytes, and other biomarkers continuously in dermal interstitial fluid. The platform’s first clinical analyte is cortisol. Adaptyx is headquartered in Menlo Park, California.
