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RPCI, UB Take Robotics Around Globe

Thursday, February 25, 2010

by Tracey Drury

A new spin-off company developed by Roswell Park Cancer Institute and the University at Buffalo and unveiled Thursday is working to train surgeons around the world in robotic surgery.

Using technology that simulates the “touch and feel” of a robotic surgical system, the Robotic Surgical Simulator (RoSS) device was developed over a four-year period by a Roswell surgeon in collaboration with an engineering profesor at UB. The duo launched Simulated Surgical Systems LLC to commercialize and sell the device to medical schools, hospitals and surgical groups eager to improve outcomes in robotic surgery.

“It’s a very exciting time,” says Dr. Khurshid Guru, co-founder of the company and chief medical officer.

As director of Roswell’s Center for Robotic Surgery and an attending surgeon in the department of urology, he likened robotic surgical systems to an aircraft, saying it’s only as good as the pilot. But there simply aren’t many training tools in existence and many surgeons end up learning as they go on patients. The RoSS is like a flight simulator, allowing mistakes to be made in the virtual world instead of on live patients.

“You learn to reduce errors by learning on simulation before you touch a patient. That’s a huge difference and a big, big advantage,” Guru says.

The RoSS simulator approximates the feel of the da Vinci robotic surgical system, touted as the most widely used system. For several years, Guru has helped train surgeons on the system who travel to Roswell from around the nation.

Already, he says, the system is being tested at four medical schools, including Detroit’s Henry Ford Hospital and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick, N.J. It also received rave reviews at national surgical conferences over the past year, including the International Robotic Urology Symposium last month in Las Vegas.

Thenkurussi “Kesh” Kesavadas, co-founder and chief technology officer, says the design process began in 2006 after he met Guru and began exploring how to use technology to help train surgeons.

“There were a number of tools available for laparoscopic surgeons but very little for robotic surgeons,” says Kesavadas, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and head of UB’s Virtual Reality Lab.

The device will likely be most widely used to train surgeons in urological surgery, which makes up the largest share of robotic surgery among specialty areas. Other specialties include obstetrics and gynecological surgery, cardiac surgery and nephrology, he says.

John Burgess has been tapped as CEO of the firm. He has a solid history with area life sciences firms, having previously owned and led Reichert Inc., an opthalmic device manufacturer in Depew. Board members, meanwhile, include Paul Harder, Scott Friedman and Mark Kane.

With initial private funding in place, the company will pursue additional financing through the private investment market.

Robert Genco, vice provost at UB and director of the Office of Science Technology Transfer and Economic Outreach, says the company is the first spin-off formed jointly between UB and another entity.

“It’s an interesting company, taking advantage of the talents of university engineering,” he says. “Thirdly, you’ve got an interested and committed local businessman, Paul Harder – so it’s a nice combination of an engineer, a physician and a business person, and that gives it a reasonable chance of being successful. They’ve got all aspects of the technology covered, plus the business expertise. It has great potential.”