Nitinol has superelastic properties that allow medical devices using it to compress to a lower profile when placed in a patient.
The post Capstan Medical CEO shares advice on nitinol, getting funded by Intuitive Ventures appeared first on The Robot Report.
Capstan Medical designed its mitral heart valve implant with a self-expanding nitinol frame. | Source: Capstan Medical
Heart disease continues to be a leading cause of death in the U.S., killing nearly 700,000 Americans each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Santa Cruz, Calif.-based Capstan Medical said it has been working to merge surgical robotics with catheter-based technology using materials such as nitinol, as well as next-generation implants.
Maggie Nixon, CEO of Capstan Medical, recently provided an update on the startup‘s surgical robots and her perspective on minimally invasive medical technology. She also discussed her team’s work with nitinol, recent funding from Intuitive Ventures, and what she has learned about leadership since the former Intuitive Surgical engineer-turned-executive became Capstan’s CEO.
Nitinol is a nearly equiatomic metal alloy of nickel and titanium with unique properties, including superelasticity (also called pseudoelasticity) and shape memory. Superelasticity or pseudoelasticity means medical-grade nitinol shows great elasticity under stress and can snap back to its original shape when pressure is released.
The alloy’s properties allow medical devices to compress to a lower profile when being placed in a patient using a catheter. Implants made of nitinol such as heart valves can expand to their intended size and shape at the site of implantation and remain inside the patient. Meanwhile, nitinol therapy devices such as ablation catheters can expand inside the body, treat targeted tissue, and then compress again for retrieval.
Shape memory means medical-grade nitinol can remember its original shape and return to it when heated. For example, some catheter-delivered implants are designed to expand to their pre-formed shape at body temperature for permanent placement.
The excerpts below have been lightly edited for space and clarity.
Capstan works closely with nitinol suppliers
Is there anything Capstan has learned about nitinol that you could share with our readers?
Nixon: Some of it is in our secret sauce, so we like to be sensitive to it. But what I say more than anything is you’ve got to partner with your manufacturers. We work so closely with not just our nitinol raw material suppliers making sure that we’re getting a consistent supply chain set up, but we work so closely with our manufacturer through our development process and implementation, all the way through their pilot line transfers and whatnot.
If you view that as something where you throw it over the wall to a supplier and expect that you’re going to get something back that works, it’s just not how it works. Nitinol is among our closest supplier relationships, and we navigate those very carefully because we view that as a partnership.
Do you want to give a shout-out to any of the partners that you’re working with on nitinol?
Nixon: We work with Admedes in Germany, and they are fantastic partners.
Capstan CEO Maggie Nixon. | Source: Capstan Medical
Nixon shares lessons in leadership
What have you learned about leadership since you became CEO?
Nixon: I stepped in in 2022 to lead Occam Labs, which is the incubator that Capstan has come out of. And then in 2023, I moved into the focused Capstan Medical CEO role.
So I went from Intuitive — which was 12,000 or 13,000 people — into a company that was 15 people. The first thing I did was built a desk and a chair and and got my computer running. And the most incredible part of all of it is just the energy around what we’re seeking to accomplish. That’s been the exciting thing.
We’ve grown our team to probably a little over 75 on the Capstan side alone, but really what it’s about is everybody’s got that same mentality and passion as we’re seeking to address this space and the creativity that we’re bringing to the table in order to address it in a new way.
Keeping that momentum is one of my biggest priorities as a leader in the coming years for Capstan. That foundational energy from the team is going to fuel us just as much as the dollars that come through the fundraises.
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Intuitive still a key part of the network
And everything’s friendly with Intuitive Surgical?
Nixon: My time at intuitive was immensely valuable, and I’m still close friends and collaborators with them.
Intuitive Ventures continued their investment, and I think the world of everything that Intuitive is doing. I still use them deeply in my network.
Do you have advice for how to get in front of Intuitive Ventures or make a deal happen?
Nixon: Muriel Thinard McLane and Vivian Golfin (De Ruijter) and that team are so active. At a lot of the investment conferences, you’ll see them on panels and whatnot. Honestly, the best way to engage with them is grab them at one of those conferences.
At least that’s my perspective. They’re constantly scanning the environment for for incredible opportunities, and they are some of the most active, especially in the early-stage conferences.”
Editor’s note: This article was syndicated from The Robot Report sibling site Medical Design and Outsourcing.
The post Capstan Medical CEO shares advice on nitinol, getting funded by Intuitive Ventures appeared first on The Robot Report.
Capstan Medical designed its mitral heart valve implant with a self-expanding nitinol frame. | Source: Capstan Medical
Heart disease continues to be a leading cause of death in the U.S., killing nearly 700,000 Americans each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Santa Cruz, Calif.-based Capstan Medical said it has been working to merge surgical robotics with catheter-based technology using materials such as nitinol, as well as next-generation implants.
Maggie Nixon, CEO of Capstan Medical, recently provided an update on the startup‘s surgical robots and her perspective on minimally invasive medical technology. She also discussed her team’s work with nitinol, recent funding from Intuitive Ventures, and what she has learned about leadership since the former Intuitive Surgical engineer-turned-executive became Capstan’s CEO.
Nitinol is a nearly equiatomic metal alloy of nickel and titanium with unique properties, including superelasticity (also called pseudoelasticity) and shape memory. Superelasticity or pseudoelasticity means medical-grade nitinol shows great elasticity under stress and can snap back to its original shape when pressure is released.
The alloy’s properties allow medical devices to compress to a lower profile when being placed in a patient using a catheter. Implants made of nitinol such as heart valves can expand to their intended size and shape at the site of implantation and remain inside the patient. Meanwhile, nitinol therapy devices such as ablation catheters can expand inside the body, treat targeted tissue, and then compress again for retrieval.
Shape memory means medical-grade nitinol can remember its original shape and return to it when heated. For example, some catheter-delivered implants are designed to expand to their pre-formed shape at body temperature for permanent placement.
The excerpts below have been lightly edited for space and clarity.
Capstan works closely with nitinol suppliers
Is there anything Capstan has learned about nitinol that you could share with our readers?
Nixon: Some of it is in our secret sauce, so we like to be sensitive to it. But what I say more than anything is you’ve got to partner with your manufacturers. We work so closely with not just our nitinol raw material suppliers making sure that we’re getting a consistent supply chain set up, but we work so closely with our manufacturer through our development process and implementation, all the way through their pilot line transfers and whatnot.
If you view that as something where you throw it over the wall to a supplier and expect that you’re going to get something back that works, it’s just not how it works. Nitinol is among our closest supplier relationships, and we navigate those very carefully because we view that as a partnership.
Do you want to give a shout-out to any of the partners that you’re working with on nitinol?
Nixon: We work with Admedes in Germany, and they are fantastic partners.
Capstan CEO Maggie Nixon. | Source: Capstan Medical
Nixon shares lessons in leadership
What have you learned about leadership since you became CEO?
Nixon: I stepped in in 2022 to lead Occam Labs, which is the incubator that Capstan has come out of. And then in 2023, I moved into the focused Capstan Medical CEO role.
So I went from Intuitive — which was 12,000 or 13,000 people — into a company that was 15 people. The first thing I did was built a desk and a chair and and got my computer running. And the most incredible part of all of it is just the energy around what we’re seeking to accomplish. That’s been the exciting thing.
We’ve grown our team to probably a little over 75 on the Capstan side alone, but really what it’s about is everybody’s got that same mentality and passion as we’re seeking to address this space and the creativity that we’re bringing to the table in order to address it in a new way.
Keeping that momentum is one of my biggest priorities as a leader in the coming years for Capstan. That foundational energy from the team is going to fuel us just as much as the dollars that come through the fundraises.
Register today to save 40% on conference passes!
Intuitive still a key part of the network
And everything’s friendly with Intuitive Surgical?
Nixon: My time at intuitive was immensely valuable, and I’m still close friends and collaborators with them.
Intuitive Ventures continued their investment, and I think the world of everything that Intuitive is doing. I still use them deeply in my network.
Do you have advice for how to get in front of Intuitive Ventures or make a deal happen?
Nixon: Muriel Thinard McLane and Vivian Golfin (De Ruijter) and that team are so active. At a lot of the investment conferences, you’ll see them on panels and whatnot. Honestly, the best way to engage with them is grab them at one of those conferences.
At least that’s my perspective. They’re constantly scanning the environment for for incredible opportunities, and they are some of the most active, especially in the early-stage conferences.”
Editor’s note: This article was syndicated from The Robot Report sibling site Medical Design and Outsourcing.
The post Capstan Medical CEO shares advice on nitinol, getting funded by Intuitive Ventures appeared first on The Robot Report.
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