Bringing Hormone Diagnostics Closer to Patients

Hormones regulate metabolism, growth, stress, fertility and many other bodily functions. Yet most hormone tests provide only a single snapshot of what is constantly changing. Lithuanian entrepreneur and veterinary surgeon Kotryna Gasiulytė wants to change that.

Growing up in Lithuania, Kotryna was surrounded by healthcare and practical problem-solving. Her mother worked as a neonatal nurse, while her father built log houses. When Kotryna was five, her sister passed away after a two-year battle with blood cancer. The experience made medicine deeply personal and inspired her lifelong interest in understanding how living systems function, change and recover.

Today, that curiosity drives her work to develop tools that help clinicians better understand hormone activity over time.

While working with wearable glucose sensors in dogs and cats in the United States, Kotryna saw how frequent monitoring could transform clinical decision-making. The experience inspired her to explore how similar technologies could be applied to hormone monitoring after she returned to Lithuania.

Today, she is the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Misslaboratory, a Lithuanian startup developing a portable hormone-monitoring platform designed to bring laboratory-grade testing closer to patients and healthcare professionals.

Kotryna Gasiulytė, co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Misslaboratory analyzing biosensor results. — Kotryna Gasiulytė, co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Misslaboratory analyzing biosensor results (Photo: Courtesy of Misslaboratory).

Building Misslaboratory

Founded in 2025, Misslaboratory is developing a portable blood-based biosensing platform that aims to combine rapid, quantitative hormone testing with longitudinal data insights for healthcare professionals and patients.

The system combines disposable biosensor strips, a compact reader and a connected data platform. Using a small blood sample, the technology is being developed to measure hormone concentrations within minutes. The results would feed into the platform, enabling users to track how hormone levels change over time.

This combination is central to Misslaboratory’s approach. Rather than relying solely on isolated laboratory measurements taken at individual points in time, the platform aims to enable more frequent quantitative testing and build a longitudinal picture of hormonal changes.

For patients undergoing hormone-dependent treatment, this could help address information gaps between medical visits while giving clinicians more timely insights into treatment response. Potential applications include fertility care, endocrinology and hormone therapy.

Misslaboratory conducts its research at the Faculty of Chemistry of the University of Lodz under a Joint Research and Development Agreement. The laboratory is led by Professor Lukasz Poltorak, while the university’s contribution to the project is led by Professor Konrad Rudnicki.

For Kotryna, Misslaboratory is about turning scientific research into practical tools that help clinicians and patients make more informed decisions.

“To me, hormones are like powerful grains in the ocean,” Kotryna says. “They are almost invisible, yet able to shift the direction of the whole biological system. My own work may also be one small grain in that ocean. But if it will help to reach patients whose biology is delicate, complex, and often difficult to capture with standard testing, then that small grain matters so much.”

Kotryna Gasiulytė and Emilia Paskowska, developing and testing Misslaboratory’s hormone-sensing technology at the Faculty of Chemistry of the University of Lodz, Poland. — Kotryna Gasiulytė and Emilia Paskowska, developing and testing Misslaboratory’s hormone-sensing technology at the Faculty of Chemistry of the University of Lodz, Poland (Photo: Courtesy of Misslaboratory).

Addressing a Growing Need for Better Hormone Diagnostics

As healthcare increasingly moves toward personalized and data-driven care, demand for faster and more accessible diagnostic solutions continues to grow. According to the World Health Organization, diagnostic tests inform around 70 percent of healthcare decisions, yet diagnostics services account for 3 to 5 percent of total healthcare budgets¹.

At the same time, rising rates of endocrine disorders such as diabetes², thyroid disease and other hormone-related conditions, are increasing demand for more effective hormone monitoring. The sector is expected to grow significantly over the coming decade, reflecting rising demand for hormone-related diagnostics and monitoring technologies³.

Learning the Strategic Value of IP through WIPO's One Day IP Workshop Program

As Misslaboratory progressed from research towards commercialization, Kotryna recognized that intellectual property would be essential to building a successful company.

Participating in WIPO’s One Day IP Workshop, organized jointly with the State Patent Bureau of the Republic of Lithuania helped her validate some of her existing assumptions while introducing new dimensions of intellectual property that she had not previously considered. Beyond the learning experience, the workshop also created valuable connections, including with a legal expert who has now become Misslaboratory's IP lawyer.

One of the most important lessons she took away was that intellectual property is not only about protecting inventions, it is also a strategic business tool.

"IP defines your position in the market," she explains. "It's much like building on land that you own."

The workshop helped her better understand how to identify what is truly novel about her technology, how to position it in the marketplace and how to communicate its value to partners, investors, and collaborators.

Turning Knowledge into Action

Following the workshop, Kotryna and her team have taken concrete steps to strengthen their intellectual property strategy, by establishing key documentation and collaboration frameworks, including non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), to safeguard its technology and partnerships, registering its logo and brand name and is preparing its first patent application.

For Kotryna, IP has become an integral part of building a scalable and sustainable med-tech business.

Kotryna Gasiulytė and a colleague test components of Misslaboratory’s portable hormone-monitoring platform. — Kotryna Gasiulytė and a colleague test components of Misslaboratory’s portable hormone-monitoring platform (Photo: Courtesy of Misslaboratory).

Looking Ahead

Kotryna hopes improved access to timely hormone data will support more informed healthcare decisions and bring better diagnostic solutions closer to the patients.

Misslaboratory is now preparing its first product for clinical validation, marking an important step toward commercialization.

Elvina Juršėnaitė, CEO and co-founder, presents Misslaboratory’s portable hormone-monitoring platform at a startup event. — Elvina Juršėnaitė, CEO and co-founder, presents Misslaboratory’s portable hormone-monitoring platform at a startup event (Photo: Courtesy of Misslaboratory).

While bringing new medical technologies to market is a long and complex process, Kotryna remains focused on the company’s vision.

With support from WIPO and a growing IP strategy, Kotryna is working to bring better hormone diagnostics closer to patients. Her journey shows how scientific innovation, combined with effective use of intellectual property, can help transform promising ideas into solutions with real-world impact.

About WIPO's One-Day IP Workshop

WIPO's One-Day IP Workshop helps entrepreneurs, innovators, researchers, and startups understand how intellectual property can support business growth and innovation. Through practical guidance and expert insights, participants learn how to identify, protect, manage, and strategically use their intellectual assets as they bring new ideas to market.