Innovating the Future of Orthopedics in Montana: A Visit to Titin KM Biomedical
The Montana High Tech Business Alliance and the Montana BioScience Alliance hosted a casual evening of networking, technology demos, and conversation at Titin KM Biomedical in Bozeman on December 10, 2025. The event offered members a behind-the-scenes look at Titin KM’s advanced manufacturing facility and showcased biomedical innovation in Montana. Photo by Cassandra Sunell, Montana BioScience Alliance.
December 18, 2025
By Christina Henderson
On December 10, 2025, members of the Montana High Tech Business Alliance and the Montana BioScience Alliance gathered in Bozeman for a behind-the-scenes look at Titin KM Biomedical.
Named a 2024 Montana Biotech Company to Watch, Titin KM is redefining how the world understands and treats shoulder injuries through its groundbreaking Humero Tech C1 machine. What looks from the outside like an unmarked shop on Bridger Drive is, in reality, a vertically integrated medical manufacturing and R&D facility advancing one of the most sophisticated orthopedic technologies in the world.
From Soup Cans to 60 Data Points Per Second
Dr. Ethan Griffel, DPT, Vice President of Medical, offered guests a demo of Titin KM’s groundbreaking Humero Tech C1 machine helping with patient rehabilitation for shoulder injuries. Photo by Christina Henderson, Montana High Tech Business Alliance.
CEO Dr. Kole Mickolio opened the evening with a candid story of how the company began. While completing medical school and later practicing at Dartmouth, his brother Kam, a professional baseball player, called from a world-renowned medical center frustrated that he was rehabilitating a serious shoulder injury with soup cans and no meaningful data. That phone call became the spark for what would eventually become next-generation equipment capable of capturing 60 data points per second, providing force analytics at every angle of motion, and allowing clinicians to quantify movements that were previously impossible to measure.
Driven by that gap in the market, Dr. Mickolio partnered with Montana-trained engineers to begin building prototypes in a small shop. Today, that seed of an idea has grown into a full advanced-manufacturing operation, turning raw metal into precision medical devices through in-house machining, electronics, upholstery, plastics, software, and testing.
Titin’s team of 25 includes mechanical engineers, software engineers, biomedical engineers, machinists, and clinical experts working together to bring a truly novel device to market.
Members Witness Real-world Biomedical Innovation Up Close
Attendees had the opportunity to see the technology up close, including the hydraulic, friction, and sensor systems beneath the machine’s outer shell, components capable of adjusting force from zero to immovable in an instant.
Tours showcased Titin KM’s CNC machining center, assembly lines, calibration stations, prototyping benches, and upholstery shop. Dr. Mickolio also shared the challenges of bringing a first-of-its-kind medical device from R&D to commercialization, from FDA regulatory ambiguity to capital hurdles during the “valley of death” between prototype and market readiness.
Titin KM Biomedical CEO Dr. Kole Mikolio gave tours of the manufacturing shop and told the company’s origin story. Attendees had the opportunity to see the technology up close, including components capable of adjusting force from zero to immovable in an instant. Photo by Cassandra Sunell, Montana BioScience Alliance.
Despite its quiet exterior, Titin KM’s innovations are already shaping clinical practice nationwide. They recently opened their first smart clinic in Salt Lake City, and the company is preparing to expand this technology into additional joints, including the hip, ankle, and spine.
Thank you to Dr. Mickolio and the entire Titin KM Biomedical team for their hospitality and for sharing their work with our community. We’re proud to support the next wave of Montana-born biotech innovation.
About the Publisher: Launched in 2014, the Montana High Tech Business Alliance is a nonpartisan nonprofit association of more than 200 high tech and manufacturing companies and affiliates creating high-paying jobs in Montana. For more information, visit MTHighTech.org or subscribe to our biweekly newsletter.
About the Author: Christina Henderson has served as executive director of the Montana High Tech Business Alliance (MHTBA) since its launch in April 2014. She holds an English/Education degree from the University of Iowa and an MBA from the University of Montana. She is also the executive director of the Montana Jobs Network, a 501(c)3 charitable nonprofit to promote skilled workforce development in Montana that became affiliated with the MHTBA in 2023.
