In this episode, TJ sits down with Alyssa Huffman, CEO and founder of ALLUMIN8, who shares the deeply personal story behind her groundbreaking medical device company. After witnessing her cousin become an incomplete quadriplegic with hardware complications at just 21 years old, followed by similar struggles with her uncle and father, Alyssa sketched out a revolutionary concept in the OR back in 2009. As a former distributor who represented implants "from the neck down," she recognized a critical gap in spine fusion technology—traditional hardware wasn't addressing the biological factors causing alarmingly high revision rates, even in young, healthy patients with excellent bone mineral density.The conversation explores ALLUMIN8's recent FDA clearance of the Integrate system, the world's first 5.5mm 3D-printed pedicle screw that creates an entirely new category called "therapeutic hardware." Alyssa breaks down the engineering challenges her team overcame to achieve what no one in history had accomplished before—creating a device that not only provides structural support but is designed to diagnose, treat, and heal directly through the implant itself. She explains the innovative Gaussian topography that mimics natural bone patterns, the strategic porous design that captures bone marrow during insertion, and her vision for the upcoming Circulate system that will enable surgeons to draw, analyze, and deliver patient-specific therapeutic compounds directly through the hardware. With her father and uncle having recently passed before seeing this milestone, Alyssa issues a passionate challenge to the spine community: let's stop spending hundreds of millions on products that provide only marginal improvements and instead work together toward the cumulative goal of reducing spine revision rates by 25%.Connect with ALLUMIN8:Website: https://linkly.link/2HeypLinkedIn: https://linkly.link/2HeyvFind them at NASS Denver 2025Follow on LinkedIn for live updates!