NEMIC Accelerator Alum SOMA Launches New Pain Management App

April 5, 2023

PROVIDENCE, RI — Just weeks after completing the NEMIC RI Commerce Activate Accelerator Program, neuroscientists at the Carney Institute for Brain Science at Brown University have launched SOMA, a new smartphone app that helps people with acute and chronic pain monitor and track patterns in their mood, pain and daily activities — including which activities affect their pain in positive or negative ways. Using data from the free app, Carney scientists are working on treatments that can be delivered through the app and will be tested in clinical trials.  

Chronic pain persists well beyond an injury or illness. It may last a lifetime and be resistant to over-the-counter medications. It’s also among the most common conditions in the U.S., with one in five adults reporting pain on most days or every day in 2022. New research suggests that chronic pain may result from changes in brain circuits involved in learning and memory. Yet, most treatments for pain still focus almost exclusively on the periphery and not the brain. 

To bridge this divide, neuroscientists at Brown University have developed SOMA. Freely available on the App Store and Google Play Store, the app focuses on the role learning and expectations pain plays in transitioning from acute to chronic pain. With more detailed data gathered from users of SOMA, healthcare providers will be able to offer precision medical treatments that target the root cause of chronic pain.

“We are hoping that SOMA will help many monitor their pain and recovery and build the basis for groundbreaking science that will improve pain treatment,” says Prof. Frederike Petzschner, head of the Psychiatry, Embodiment and Computation Lab (PEAC) at the Carney Institute for Brain Science, primary investigator behind the SOMA project, and a previous participant of NEMIC’s Med Tech Leadership Program. 

SOMA is made possible by the new Brainstorm Program at the Carney Institute for Brain Science at Brown University, which focuses on the translation of brain science into real-world applications that have a lasting positive impact on the field of mental health - and in the case of SOMA for those that suffer from pain.

Learn more about the SOMA App: www.somatheapp.com