Synthasome was founded in 2003 by a team of highly experienced bioengineers and orthopedic specialists who had a common desire to create advanced products for the treatment of musculoskeletal disorders. The original Synthasome employees have been joined by a group of consultants, collaborators and subcontractors, all experts in their own fields, to provide a highly effective and efficient administrative, R&D, and manufacturing organization.

Anthony Ratcliffe, Ph.D. is President and CEO of Synthasome, Inc. Dr. Ratcliffe obtained his B.Sc. in biochemistry in 1977, and Ph.D. in immunology in 1980, from the University of Birmingham, UK. He then joined The Kennedy Institute for Rheumatology, London as a Research Scientist, and in 1987 he moved to Columbia University, New York, as Associate Professor in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery. In 1996 he joined Advanced Tissue Sciences in La Jolla, where he served as Vice President for Research until 2002. Dr. Ratcliffe has focused his work on musculoskeletal research, tissue engineering, and product development. He has had a number of external leadership positions, including serving as a member of the Board of Directors of the Orthopaedic Research Society, Study Sections for NIH, Co-Chairman of the Grant Review Committee for the Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation, Co-Chairman of the Tissue Engineering Committee for ASTM, and has published more than 100 papers.

Andreas Kern, Ph.D. is Director of Research at Synthasome, Inc. Dr. Kern obtained his M.Sc. in Food Chemistry in 1988 and Ph.D. in Protein Chemistry in 1992 from the University of Munich, Germany working with Professor Dr. Klaus Kuehn at the Max-Planck-Institute for Biochemistry. Subsequently, he worked with Dr. Eugene Marcantonio as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Columbia University, where he focused his work on integrin cell and molecular biology. From 1998 to 2002 he worked at Advanced Tissue Sciences in La Jolla, most recently as Principal Scientist, his work focusing on the role of the extracellular matrix in fibroblast biology as related to tissue-engineered dermal products, the use of endothelial cells in tissue-engineered vascular grafts and development of assays for regulatory agencies. He is a member of the American Societies for Cell Biology and Matrix Biology and has published more than ten peer-reviewed papers. He joined Synthasome as a founding employee in August 2003.

Mohammad Sotoudeh, Ph.D. is Principal Bioengineer/Scientist. Dr. Sotoudeh completed his MS degree in bioengineering on 1995 and his Ph.D. in bioengineering on 1998 at University of California San Diego where, under Dr. Shu Chien’s guidance, he designed a new stretch apparatus and studied the effects of physiological and pathophysiological magnitudes of dynamic stretch on activation of signal transduction pathways leading to programmed cell death (apoptosis) in vascular smooth muscle cell. In 1999 he joined Advanced Tissue Sciences, Inc. and designed, developed, and validated a novel bioreactor system to grow tissue engineered vascular graft under defined mechanical environment. In 2002 as a project manager he led a team of scientist and associates to develop an injectable ischemic repair device (IRD) to induce angiogenesis in ischemic heart tissue. He also designed and validated a novel bioreactor and an injection systems for the IRDs. In 2003 he worked as a Senior Research Scientist at Biosite, Inc. on microfluidic and engineering aspects of Triage BNP test to improve the performance of the test and reduce its variability. He joined Synthasome in December 2003.

Fatemeh Saed-Nejad is Laboratory Manager and Associate Research Scientist. Ms. Saed-Nejad has over 20 years laboratory experience in musculoskeletal research, at the Kennedy Institute in London, Orthopaedic Research Laboratories at Columbia University, and now at Synthasome in San Diego. She has substantial expertise in cell and tissue culture, biochemical analysis, and histology. She joined Synthasome as a founding employee in August 2003.