Coherence Neuro

Coherence Neuro (also referred to as Coherence, and legally as Coherence Neuro Global, Inc.) is a San Francisco-based neurotechnology company developing implantable bioelectronic systems that record from and stimulate the brain in order to monitor and treat cancer. The company frames cancer as electrically active and integrated with the nervous system, and positions electrical stimulation as an additional therapeutic modality alongside the established pillars of surgery, radiotherapy and drugs — an approach it labels electro-oncology.

Its flagship program, SOMA, is described as a therapeutic brain-computer interface intended for people with glioblastoma. The system combines a shirt-button/coin-sized wireless implant placed during an existing resection or biopsy procedure, up to 16 ultrathin biocompatible threads that deliver targeted stimulation and measure electrical activity in the tumor microenvironment, an over-ear wearable that wirelessly powers the implant and manages data and stimulation protocols, a contactless wireless charger, and a companion app providing real-time data, session history and symptom tracking. Clinicians receive a live log of therapy, symptoms and disease state and can adjust therapy remotely or allow the closed-loop system to adapt automatically. The company states the implant is engineered to be MRI-transparent so imaging can continue without removal.

A separate investigational device, the CIPHER System, is a bi-directional, highly flexible, electrode-dense thin-film cortical probe used for neurophysiological mapping and stimulation during brain tumor resection surgery; findings from it are intended to inform the design of the second-generation SOMA-1 implant. Coherence states its devices are investigational and not approved by the FDA or Australia's TGA."]

Founding story

Coherence Neuro was founded in 2022 by Ben Woodington and Elise Jenkins, who met during their PhDs at the University of Cambridge, where they worked on neuroengineering and neuro-oncology. Their shared thesis was that diseases such as cancer can be read and influenced through electrical signals, drawing on evidence that cancer cells behave in ways similar to neurons — hijacking neural pathways, drawing nerves into the tumor microenvironment and forming synaptic connections with surrounding tissue — and on the precedent of Novocure's FDA-approved Optune device, which uses externally delivered alternating electric fields to treat glioblastoma. They concluded that neuromodulation, long associated with conditions such as Parkinson's, epilepsy and chronic pain, could be applied to cancer monitoring and therapy in an implanted, device-based form.

Business model

Coherence Neuro is a clinical-stage medical device developer. It designs and builds its own implants, wearables and software rather than using off-the-shelf arrays, and runs clinical studies of investigational devices; no products are approved for human use, and the company has no disclosed commercial revenue.

Traction

In June 2026 Coherence Neuro began its first-in-human study of the CIPHER System at the Royal Melbourne Hospital, led by neurosurgeon Dr Andrew Morokoff, evaluating safety, basic performance and handling characteristics during short-duration intraoperative use in brain tumor resection surgery. The company reported reaching Human Research Ethics approval and first human use in under 15 months. It has stated it will publish a pre-print demonstrating continuous classification of cancer presence and stage from electrical signals alone in an animal model.

Latest developments

The first-in-human CIPHER study commenced in June 2026 with the first procedure completed at the Royal Melbourne Hospital. Results are intended to be compared with earlier animal findings to inform the design of the second-generation SOMA-1 implant, a bi-directional device that senses electrical activity in the tumor microenvironment and stimulates in response. Neuralink head neurosurgeon Dr Matthew MacDougal is an advisor and investor, and he and fellow neurosurgeon Dr Rory Murphy are slated to be involved in planned US clinical trials.