Residents in Action – Current Surgical
June 21, 2023
| This is a guest post by Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JLABS @ Washington, DC. JLABS is a Corporate Partner who values community just as much as we do. Enjoy the read and be sure to get in touch if you have an idea or perspective you’d like to share. BioBuzz welcomes guest posts and contributing writers with expertise on topics that are of interest. |
In this month’s edition of Resident Companies in Action, the team at Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JLABS @ Washington, DC spoke with Dr. Al Mashal, CEO and co-founder of Current Surgical.
Current Surgical, a resident company of JLABS @ Washington, DC, is developing a smart needle for the precise ablation of solid tumors. The digital ablation platform uses ultrasound sensors built into the smart needle to quickly guide the surgeon to the tumor. The tool then uses the same ultrasound sensors to focus soundwaves to heat and selectively destroy the tumor without damaging surrounding healthy tissue.
“As biomedical engineers, we kept hearing from doctors that they needed a more precise way to treat solid tumors. We both know people who have had cancer, where the ‘cure’ is often just as harmful as the disease. That’s where we come in. We believe that microinvasive surgery will be a key pillar in precision medicine and has the potential to transform healthcare,” Mashal says.
One of the major challenges in treating diseased tissue like solid tumors lies in their difficult-to-reach locations and proximity to critical anatomy. As a result, patients and doctors are often confronted with difficult tradeoffs, resorting to treatments that merely delay the disease’s progression without providing a cure. Current Surgical’s primary objective is to develop technology that empowers doctors with the tools to precisely destroy diseased tissue while preserving nearby healthy anatomy.
Mashal and his co-founder, Dr. Chris Wagner, founded Current Surgical at the beginning of 2020 at the onset of the pandemic. From the ground up, they dedicated themselves to the development of cutting-edge technology and the cultivation of relationships with clinicians and investors. This organic approach allowed them to tailor their technology to address specific problems effectively, but it also demanded tremendous dedication and perseverance to gain the necessary momentum.
Looking ahead to 2023 and beyond, Current Surgical has reached significant milestones. They successfully closed their seed funding round in late 2022 and have spent the initial part of 2023 assembling and training their technical team. The next critical step for the company involves developing their first in vivo prototype. This milestone will provide valuable data, enabling them to gather feedback from clinicians and regulatory bodies, further advancing their technology and bringing them closer to their goal of transforming patient care.
One pivotal decision in the journey of Current Surgical was becoming a JLABS @ Washington, DC resident company. Prior to establishing the company, Mashal and his team held great admiration for the JLABS ecosystem and resident companies.
“Long before we started Current Surgical, we have had a lot of respect for the JLABS ecosystem and their portfolio companies. To have the opportunity to access state-of-the-art facilities, receive mentorship from top experts at Johnson & Johnson, and have a home-base at JLABS @ Washington, DC, was an easy decision for us. We get to be near our clinical collaborators, as well as have access to an incredible talent-base in the greater DC region,” Mashal says.
Reflecting on their journey, the founders of Current Surgical offer valuable advice to early-stage entrepreneurs. They emphasize that building a startup is a marathon, especially in the healthcare sector as developing groundbreaking technology and establishing a company from scratch is a challenging endeavor.
“The biggest lesson we have learned is that the ‘first’ of anything is hard, whether that’s your first investor, grant, clinical collaborator, employee, etc. The only way to make it to the next stage is to get better at all of it a little bit every day; there are no shortcuts,” Mashal says.
With their unwavering commitment to transforming healthcare through microinvasive surgery and precision medicine, Current Surgical has the potential to provide patients with curative care and improving outcomes for countless individuals worldwide.
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Current Surgical is a resident company at Johnson & Johnson Innovation – JLABS @ Washington, DC, which helps unleash the potential of innovators’ early scientific discoveries by providing state-of-the-art infrastructure (lab and offices), assigning a mentor to provide guidance, offering access to the investor community, and delivering training program to support startup executives. Interested in learning more? Connect with our team to discuss incubation, collaboration, or investment opportunities.
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Passion. It’s what makes Cat tick. Born and raised in Baltimore, Cat is a former Division-I lacrosse athlete (Hofstra ’09), entrepreneur, and mom of three (crazy) boys. Over the last 12 years, she’s built and led countless teams (on the field, in the gym, and in the office), scaled programs and brands (in both scope and geography), and driven growth and impact in nearly everything she touches. She loves being part of something bigger than herself and has found a new home within the life sciences as BioBuzz’s Head of Marketing.
