Virtuoso Surgical, Inc., a Vanderbilt-founded company developing new robotic tools for endoscopic surgery, has received FDA Breakthrough Device Designation for its Surgical Robotic System for bladder lesion removal.
The breakthrough technology features needle-sized robotic arms that significantly enhance precision in minimally invasive endoscopic procedures. The milestone brings Vanderbilt researchers one step closer to advancing bladder cancer diagnosis and treatment of related bladder lesions.
Virtuoso Surgical, Inc. began as a collaboration between Vanderbilt University and Vanderbilt University Medical Center, with support from the Center for Technology Transfer and Commercialization and funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health and the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development.
The technology was developed at the Vanderbilt Institute for Surgery and Engineering by Robert Webster, Richard A. Schroeder professor of mechanical engineering, Duke Herrell, director of robotics at VUMC and professor of urology, and school of engineering alum Richard Hendrick, Ph.D’17.
Webster, Herrell and Hendrick serve as executives at Virtuoso. The company, founded in 2016, released its first prototype in 2018.
Read the full press release here.