NC Biomatrix

Prof Keita Ito

Inventor, Founder and CSO

Prof Keita Ito is an active and pre-eminent scholar in the field of orthopaedic biomechanics/mechanobiology and spine research. He is a former Board Member of the AO Foundation and has been actively involved for over 15 years as an educator and key opinion leader with the AO, the leading international physician-driven orthopaedic organisation. Prof Ito earned his engineering PhD from MIT and was awarded his medical doctorate from Harvard Medical School. Prof Ito is the inventor of NC Biomatrix’s core technology and as CSO, he manages all medical, scientific and technical matters pertaining to it.

Susan Drapeau

Chief Product Advisor

Susan has over 24 years of industry experience in cell therapy, biologics, biomaterials, protein therapies and medical device development. Prior to joining BCVG in 2022, Susan led product development, regulatory, preclinical, and program management at Sigilon Therapeutics, a cell therapy company combining biomaterials and cellular engineering to treat rare diseases. Previously, she served as the Senior Director of Business Development and Strategy at Vericel Corporation, and before that, spent 14 years at Medtronic Spine running part of the Biologics product development organization as well as leading due diligence efforts. While at Medtronic, her team launched numerous products, submitted INDs, supported manufacturing and more. Earlier in her career, she worked at Osiris Therapeutics with Dr. Bruder, leading allogeneic cell therapies in orthopaedics. Dr. Drapeau serves as an advocate for the biomedical field as part of AIMBE, and sits on the Advisory Board for the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Rice University. Susan is a graduate of Purdue University (BS, Chemical Engineering and BS, Chemistry) and Rice University (PhD, Chemical Engineering).

Scott Bruder

Chief Regulatory Advisor

Scott has enjoyed a long and distinguished career in the discovery, development, and commercialization of products to diagnose and treat patients around the world. He founded BCVG in 2015 after 25 years in the industrial sector, serving as the CSO & CMO for Stryker Corporation, and as the CTO at Becton, Dickinson & Company. Previously, at Johnson & Johnson, his team built a portfolio of musculoskeletal tissue repair products for the DePuy franchise before establishing J&J Regenerative Therapeutics. Dr. Bruder's inventions, technologies, and teams have launched dozens of products, earning billions of dollars for his employers and patent licensors. In support of the US FDA, he also served as the Industry Member on their “Advisory Committee on Cellular, Tissue, and Gene Therapies”. He has published more than 125 original articles, book chapters, and abstracts, and lectured extensively around the world.

Dr. Bruder is the recipient of numerous international honors and is the only industry scientist to receive the Kappa Delta Award from the AAOS, the Marshall R. Urist Award for Tissue Regeneration Research from the ORS and the Pierre Galletti Award from AIMBE. In addition to his tenure through industry, Dr. Bruder has maintained an active academic presence, serving as an Adjunct Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery and Biomedical Engineering at Case Western Reserve University, after post-graduate clinical training at Albert Einstein Medical Center and the University of Pennsylvania. Scott received both his MD and PhD (stem cell biology) from Case, working in the laboratory of Prof. Arnold Caplan, after earning an Honors Sc.B. at Brown University, working in the laboratory of Dr. Roy Aaron. An avid skier, jazz pianist, devoted husband and dedicated father, Scott’s core beliefs are based on the principles of passion, commitment and discipline.

Rachael Benson

Manufacturing and R&D

Rachael brings a wealth of cross-industry experience from ISO 13485, GMP, ISO 17025 and ISO 9001 to NC Biomatrix where she is focussed on transfer of the process from R&D to manufacturing. Working in close collaboration our partners, she has been leading our manufacturing validation efforts and has been instrumental in helping develop and implement an effective contamination control strategy. Rachael is a professional microbiologist and chartered biologist with over 27 years’ experience in the medical device, pharmaceutical, disinfectant, and cosmetic industries. Specifically, she has been involved in new product development of anti-microbial products and surfaces for both orthopaedics and wound care, in addition to production sterility assurance of aseptically manufactured and sterile orthopaedic products. In 2017 Rachael formed her own consultancy company and is director of MICRAMED Limited, which provides a range of Microbiology and Quality and Microbiology Consultancy and Training services to a range of Healthcare Industries.