Cancer sucks
Note: This piece was originally published on Medium. You can view it here.
We live in a time where a conversation about cancer quickly becomes: “my uncle has..”, “my best friend has..”, “my sister has..” and even “I have..” cancer.
People tend to think cancer is age discriminating or “an old person’s” disease. The reality is so far from this. There has been a 79.1% increase of the incidence of early-onset (<50 years) cancers since 1990[1]. More often than I am comfortable to admit, young people are being diagnosed.
In the U.K over 1000 people will receive a cancer diagnosis today. In the U.S, it’s over 5000 each day.
Cancer really sucks.
For a disease that is so prevalent and can affect people of any demographic, it is astonishing to me that we still know very little about how it progresses over time. We rely on snapshot monitoring methods to tell us an incredibly complex story. We treat based on this information, because it’s the best that can be done within the short decision times that healthcare experts have available to them. We wait until the next routine (or non-routine) visit or for symptoms to worsen before intervening or changing treatment because there is no better option available. Cancer diagnosis (mostly) and treatment today is reactive.
It is not enough.
To date, there is not a single method available to understand disease evolution, longitudinally, in a natural environment. There are close to zero clinically available true “precision medicine” approaches where we take all unique factors of a person into consideration when treating. We know that disease evolves, sometimes very fast, it spreads, and it kills. We know that diseases vary person to person, yet we throw a blanket and hope to cover as many grounds as possible, at the cost of life quality.
During my PhD at the University of Cambridge, I began researching brain tumours, particularly Glioblastoma. I learnt of its absolute devastation, and that there hasn’t been a single breakthrough that has changed the standard of care in over 20 years.
Engineers are problem solvers
I came from an electrical engineering background. Engineers are problem solvers (sometimes to a fault). I set out on a personal mission to solve to this problem and became truly obsessed.
I learnt that in this disease, 50% of people were automatically non-responders to the primary interventional drug (temozolomide)[2]. I learnt that surgical resection, of which 77% of people undergo, was the highest contributing factor to overall survival (the more debulked, the better). However there is a careful tradeoff for maximum resection and the resultant neurological quality[3]. I learnt that the diseased cells were of a lineage that many people studied in neuroscience. I learnt that not only is this disease electrically active, but communicates with the rest of the brain (particularly neurons)[4][5][6].
I worked alongside several incredible researchers in the bioelectronics lab who developed neurotechnologies — methods of reading and writing the nervous system to harness and control its function.
After spending years in the lab taking neuroscience and neurotechnology approaches and applying them to cancer, I approached my now co-founder with the idea to develop the first implantable brain-computer interface (BCI) to track and treat cancer. In 2022, we raised a pre-seed round, recruited an outstanding and diverse team, validated an MVP — the world’s smallest and first MRI transparent BCI platform — and demonstrated that this platform can both measure cancer progression biomarkers longitudinally in realtime and modulate brain function to quieten cancerous signalling. We are so excited to share our results which are in preparation for publication (with our remarkable collaborators).
Our aim is to translate our platform to first human trials in the next 2 years, showcasing the utility of our tiny yet powerful BCI in a dramatically underserved vertical. For the first time in history, we will have longitudinal data, which will indicate not just how, but when disease evolves, when it does/doesn’t respond to drugs and where it is spreading, all while providing a continuous, complimentary therapy to the standard of care.
When we founded Opto, we made it our sole mission to take all the lessons from neuroscience and neurotechnology and apply them to cancer — developing the first BCI platform that can measure cancer progression and modulate nervous system function to suppress growth.
We now know that these scientific and technical underpinnings extend beyond the brain, and we have started discovery and pre-clinical work on pancreatic cancer, our first follow on disease.
Follow our progress as we share our findings through academic publishing and other media platforms.
References (all open access)
[1] https://bmjoncology.bmj.com/content/2/1/e000049
[2] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6150109/
[3] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6438173/
[4] https://www.nature.com/articles/nrc3129.pdf
The body runs on a bioelectronic
The body runs on a bioelectronic
Bioelectronic therapy at the cutting edge
Bioelectronic devices — tiny implants, smart wearables, and AI-powered neural systems — are a new interface between the human body and therapeutic technology.
The cutting edge of medicine is not only digital; it’s electric.
The body electric
Our bodies communicate both through chemicals like hormones and neurotransmitters and through electricity.
Tiny pulses of energy travel through nerves and tissues, orchestrating everything from your heartbeat to your thoughts. Neurons fire electrochemical impulses. The brain and nervous system function as complex, living circuits. Every sensation, movement, and emotion begins as an electrical signal.
This electrical activity forms the bioelectronic code — a language of patterns, frequencies, and pulses that governs how we function, feel, and heal.
Health and disease are not just chemical or genetic. They are also electrical.
When signals misfire or communication breaks down, illness can follow — from chronic pain and depression to autoimmune disorders, paralysis, and aggressive cancers like glioblastoma.
Cancer rewritten
Cancer isn’t just a genetic anomaly. It’s an active participant in the body’s electrical system.
Cancer monitors the body’s bioelectronic signals and responds with its own, hijacking the neural pathways used for healing and immune coordination to fuel its own growth.
At Coherence, we’re overwriting cancer’s bioelectronic signals.
The fourth pillar of cancer therapy
Cancer therapy has three pillars: drugs, radiotherapy, and surgery. We’re introducing a fourth pillar: electricity, via bioelectronic therapy. Bioelectronic therapy is divided into three primary modalities.
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A new era in disease management
Coherence products read the body’s electrical signals and deliver precise electrical modulation to areas affected by disease. This rebalances tissue function, relieves symptoms, supercharges immune response, and slows disease progression.
By bringing bioelectronic systems into stasis, we extend and improve quality of life.
Unlike chemotherapy or other systemic drugs, targeted bioelectronic therapy contends with disease at its source. Electrically modulating aberrant bioelectrical signals offers a precise approach to treating disease while substantially minimizing side effects compared to conventional cancer treatment.
Targeted bioelectronic therapy shows promise across many conditions:
- Restoring movement after paralysis through spinal or brain stimulation
- Reversing stroke damage by reactivating dormant neural pathways
- Treating depression or PTSD by rebalancing malfunctioning brain circuits
- Boosting immunity or suppressing cancer by modulating nerve-to-immune signals
The Coherence platform
Our approach is built on three interconnected pillars:
Neurotechnology
We design implantable electronics capable of sensing and stimulating with unmatched precision.
They’re small enough to fit on your fingertip, yet powerful enough to influence how the body behaves.
Neurobiology
We are mapping how cancer communicates with the nervous system and learning how to intervene.
In collaboration with partners at Cambridge, Monash, and Stanford, we’re pioneering the new field of electro-oncology.
AI & machine learning
Our closed-loop systems continuously learn from each patient.
We use advanced AI to decode high-resolution electrical signals and identify the unique fingerprint of each disease. These insights fuel personalized therapies that adapt in real time and provide clinicians with a new tool to understand and personalise treatment.
As we scale, we’re building the largest dataset of disease evolution and brain state in history, unlocking unprecedented insights into the brain and body.
Glioma management
SOMA-1 is our flagship device: a minimally invasive, MRI-safe brain–computer interface implanted during existing neurosurgery. SOMA-1 both monitors and treats brain disorders like gliomas in real time.
- Closed-loop stimulation reduces disease burden as it evolves.
- Continuous recording tracks tumor behavior without repeated scans.
- Adaptive AI personalizes therapy based on live data from the tumor environment.
SOMA-1 is therapy, diagnostics, and a living model — all in a device the size of a shirt button.
A patient-first paradigm
Gone are the days of burdensome treatments — no more head shaving, messy gel applications, bulky headgear that overheats, or cumbersome equipment.
With Coherence, patients can maintain their appearances and focus on enjoying life.
Patients are augmented by a holistic therapeutic system — a button-sized therapeutic implant; a modern, minimalist wearable that sits comfortably on top of the ear; and a user-friendly app.
This system greatly enhances quality of life — allowing patients to live easier, healthier, longer, and more joyful lives.
Bioelectronic cancer management
By decoding the body's electrical language, we’re unlocking a new way to understand and treat disease.
- Smarter: Personalized, real-time therapy for each patient.
- Faster: Deployable across conditions without years of redevelopment.
- Deeper: Reaching the core bioelectrical mechanisms of disease.
Coherence is laying the foundation of electro-oncology.
Welcome to a new paradigm in medicine.