Menosense (Hackstarter 25 Winner)

An at-home hormone monitoring device providing real-time menopause insights.

Meet the team

Karina Cheng, Co-Founder (Biomedical Technology Ventures)
Donna Pu, Co-Founder (Molecular Bioengineering)

Get in touch

Department of Bioengineering
www.imperial.ac.uk/bioengineering
@imperialbioeng

Our Project: Menosense

Menosense is a Hackstarter-funded innovation project focused on developing a real-time, at-home menopause hormone monitoring device. Led by Karina Cheng and Donna Pu, two first-year students and high school friends from Beijing, the project aims to revolutionise menopause care with accessible hormone tracking through saliva-based testing and smart tracking. Karina was inspired to create this device after witnessing her mother struggle with menopause symptoms, applying her coursework knowledge to develop a practical and user-friendly solution.

A New Approach to Menopause Monitoring

Inspired by COVID-19 antigen tests, glucometers and pregnancy tests, Menosense adopts a lateral flow test to develop a handheld device capable of quantifying hormone levels. Compared to traditional blood and urine hormone tests, saliva testing offers a more convenient and non-invasive alternative. Additionally, unlike lab-based tests that take days to weeks for results, Menosense provides rapid, on-the-spot hormone insights for seamless and efficient tracking.

The Hackstarter Journey

Karina first discovered Hackstarter through her BSc in Biomedical Technology Ventures (BTV) course – a joint degree between the Department of Bioengineering and Imperial College Business School. Last year, two groups of BTV students reached the Hackstarter Final, inspiring Karina to take on the challenge herself.

Donna, a Molecular Bioengineering student, plays a key role in the biology wet lab work, contributing her complementary expertise to the project’s development. The team is currently at a critical stage, focusing on running molecular tests and designing the device’s electronic display, which uses a photodetector to quantify hormone levels. Given Hackstarter’s tight ten-week timeline, they are initially focusing on one hormone, with plans to expand the device’s capabilities to track multiple hormones in the future.

Learning, Experimenting and Innovating

Hackstarter has given Menosense’s founders the freedom to explore, innovate and build a real-world product from scratch. They have enjoyed conducting independent research, writing their own protocols and gaining hands-on learning experience in product development – with a physical result to show for it.

The support from Hackspace’s Fellows has also been invaluable, who have helped accelerate their progress while encouraging them to push the boundaries of their concept.