Could Space Medicine Become the Forcing Function MedTech Innovation Needs? Matthew Kuhn of Skybound Medtech. What happens when getting to space becomes easier than keeping humans healthy once they arrive? I had a fascinating conversation with Matthew Kuhn(@matthewkuhn) , Founder and CEO of Skybound Medtech (skyboundmedtech.com) , to explore one of the most interesting emerging categories in MedTech: space medicine. Matthew’s thesis is that as launch costs fall and humans spend longer periods beyond Earth, human physiology becomes the next bottleneck. That creates problems traditional healthcare was never built to solve. Microgravity accelerates muscle and bone loss. Earth-based supply chains disappear. A medical emergency on Mars could involve a communication delay long enough that waiting for instructions from a physician on Earth is no longer practical. That pushes medicine toward autonomous robotics, reusable medical devices, physical AI, local clinical decision-making, and entirely new approaches to human performance. What I found especially interesting is that this is not only about astronauts. Space can act as a forcing function for medical innovation because many physiological problems become dramatically accelerated in extreme environments. Technologies developed to keep people healthy in space could eventually translate back into aging, rehabilitation, chronic disease, and healthcare on Earth. Matthew also explains why Skybound is building at the intersection of space, defense, and clinical medicine, using a venture studio model designed to turn mission-critical problems into standalone companies. The real opportunity may not be adapting Earth medicine for space, but using space to force medicine to invent what comes next. Episode Breakdown 00:00 Why Space Medicine Could Change Healthcare Forever 01:07 Meet Matthew Kuhn, Founder of Skybound MedTech 02:24 From Johnson & Johnson to MedTech Entrepreneurship 03:30 How Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works Inspired MedTech Innovation 05:03 Could Removing Gravity Transform Modern Medicine? 06:11 Why Space Exploration Needs New Medical Technologies 07:53 How Manufacturing in Space Could Improve Medicine 09:09 Which Surgeries Could Benefit From Zero Gravity? 10:16 What NASA's Twin Study Revealed About Aging 11:19 Telomeres, Longevity and the Effects of Space Travel 12:43 Could Space Research Unlock Longevity Breakthroughs? 13:30 Market Engineering and MedTech Growth 15:28 What We Still Don't Understand About Space and Human Health 15:52 Why Osteoporosis Is a Major Challenge in Space 16:11 How Microgravity Accelerates Bone and Muscle Loss 17:23 What Happens to Astronauts After Long Space Missions? 18:46 Why Space Is So Dangerous for the Human Body 19:11 Is Space Medicine an Entirely New MedTech Category? 20:44 Why Space Medicine Could Accelerate Medical Innovation 21:17 How Space Research Could Transform Healthcare on Earth 22:18 Why MedTech Needs More Moonshot Innovation 23:23 Why Space Medicine May Require Autonomous Surgical Robotics 24:59 Why Disposable Medical Devices Won't Work on Mars 26:07 Could Space Accelerate Autonomous Surgery? 26:30 What Happens When Someone Has a Heart Attack in Space? 26:59 Why Mars Communication Delays Make Remote Surgery Difficult 27:40 How NASA and Space Companies View Space Medicine 28:48 Why the Space Economy Is Changing So Quickly 30:22 NASA's Moon Base Plans and the Future of the ISS 30:47 Why Private Companies Are Building the Next Space Stations 32:06 What the AI Boom Can Teach Us About Space Innovation 33:55 What Is Skybound MedTech's Business Model? 34:20 Why Skybound Focuses on Space, Defense and Longevity 35:26 How Skybound Makes Deep Tech Ventures Investable 35:58 Who Invests in Space Medicine Startups? 36:13 Why Traditional MedTech Venture Capital Is Challenging 37:01 How Space and Defense Funding Opens New Opportunities 37:33 Why Early-Stage Investors Are Demanding Revenue 39:18 What Silicon Valley Gets Right About Startup Investing 39:47 Why MedTech Investors Are Moving Toward Later-Stage Companies 41:20 Could Space Medicine Attract a New Class of Investors? 42:04 The Rise of Brain-Computer Interface Startups 42:28 Which BCI Companies Are Leading Innovation? 43:51 How Motif Neurotech Is Advancing Brain Stimulation 44:52 Why Colossal Biosciences Wants to Revive Extinct Animals 45:44 How De-Extinction Could Create Valuable New Technologies 46:43 What Skybound Can Learn From Colossal Biosciences 47:20 How Moonshot Missions Create Commercial Opportunities 48:39 The Unexpected Story Behind Skybound MedTech 50:35 How Reusable Rockets Inspired a New Healthcare Vision 51:07 Why Human Physiology Could Become Space's Biggest Bottleneck 52:14 How a Father's Curiosity Sparked a MedTech Idea 53:48 What Growth Hormones Reveal About Human Physiology 54:44 Could We Prevent Muscle and Bone Loss in Space? 55:19 How Skybound Chooses Which Technologies to Develop 56:08 The Challenge of Testing Medical Devices for Space 56:34 Could NVIDIA's AI Simulations Transform MedTech Discovery? 58:26 Why Medical Device Innovation Needs New Discovery Models 58:39 Can Digital Twins Simulate Human Biology? 59:45 Is Skybound MedTech a Venture Studio? 01:00:10 How Skybound Plans to Build and Spin Out MedTech Startups 01:01:27 Why Houston Could Lead the Next Space Medicine Revolution 01:02:06 Should Medical Innovation Start in Space or on Earth? 01:02:25 Why Skybound Starts With the Challenges of Space 01:03:01 Final Thoughts on Space Medicine and Breakthrough Innovation 01:04:00 End

Great session at #MTC26 @iRhythmTech CEO Quentin Blackford had a great point on medtech and tech. The winners in our space will own Clinical accountability but that we have to find ways to do partnerships with big tech to amplify the value we deliver to patients.

Scalable Surgery: Can Moon Surgical Redefine How Operating Rooms Grow? with Jeffery Alvarez. What if the biggest opportunity in surgical robotics is not adding more capability, but removing variability? I recently sat down with Jeffery Alvarez(@alvajeff) , Chief Strategy Officer at MoonSurgical(@moonsurgical), to unpack the company’s vision for Scalable Surgery and why the shift toward ASCs is changing how surgical technology needs to be designed. Jeffery explains that rising surgical demand cannot simply be solved by adding more operating rooms, staff, or expensive robotic platforms. The better question is how to make surgery more predictable. We get into Moon Surgical’s Maestro physical AI platform, its Copilot technology, intelligent setup, surgical visualization, ASC workflow, marginal cost per procedure, and the role AI can play in building a smarter surgical ecosystem. Jeffery also shares reported data from more than 300 patients showing shorter procedure times, reduced staffing requirements, and roughly 30 to 35 percent improvement in procedure-time predictability. That last metric matters because predictability changes scheduling, staffing, overtime, throughput, and ultimately the economics of the operating room. The future of surgical robotics may be less about building the most complex system and more about building the right system for where surgery is actually moving. Episode Breakdown 00:00 Why Surgical Robotics Needs a New Business Model 01:32 Meet Jeff Alvarez of Moon Surgical 02:36 From MedTech Startups to Building Six Robotic Platforms 03:58 Moon Surgical Introduces Scalable Surgery 04:44 What Is Scalable Surgery? 05:51 Why Healthcare Needs Scalable Surgery Now 07:23 Why Hospital Profit Margins Are Collapsing 09:10 Why Ambulatory Surgery Centers Are More Profitable 10:02 How ASCs Perform More Surgeries in Less Time 10:57 Why More Patients Are Choosing Outpatient Surgery 11:50 How Convenience Is Reshaping Healthcare 12:45 Why Surgical Efficiency Matters Beyond Cost 13:29 Inside Moon Surgical's Maestro Robotic Platform 14:05 How Maestro Uses Physical AI to Assist Surgeons 15:32 Market Engineering and MedTech Growth 17:32 Why Moon Surgical Is Different From Da Vinci 18:37 Why Traditional Surgical Robots Were Built for Another Era 20:30 Why More Complex Robotics Is Not Always Better 22:12 How Maestro Reduces Operating Room Setup Time 23:28 How Do You Prove Scalable Surgery Is Profitable? 24:06 The Clinical Data Behind Maestro's Efficiency Gains 25:28 What Makes Maestro a Physical AI Platform? 26:28 How AI Automates Camera Control and Robot Setup 29:04 What Qualifies as Scalable Surgery? 29:58 Why Network Effects Matter in Surgical Robotics 30:26 How AI Ecosystems Could Make Surgery More Efficient 32:30 Moon Surgical's Business Model and Software Strategy 32:53 The Future of Maestro's Software Capabilities 34:21 What Moon Surgical Learned From Its Category Launch 34:44 What Toyota Can Teach Surgical Robotics About Efficiency 36:18 Applying First Principles to Surgical Robotics 36:37 Why Moon Surgical Celebrates Saying No 37:33 How Maestro Reduces the Cost Per Procedure 39:15 How Startup Constraints Can Become an Advantage 40:53 How Moon Surgical's Culture Shapes Its Technology 41:51 How Are Surgeons Responding to Scalable Surgery? 43:18 Why Surgeons Must Understand the Economics of Care 44:45 Why High-Volume Surgery Needs a Different Robotic Model 46:18 What's Next for Moon Surgical? 46:47 Where to Follow Moon Surgical and Maestro 48:14 End

Today people clamor to get @MartinShkreli on their show but I saw his talent and intellect years back when he came on @StateofMedTech Still one of the top viewed episodes on our YouTube. And yes his all in summit talk is worth watching.