Frontier Bio

Frontier Bio is engineering human tissue with potentially life-saving applications.

At the moment, its tissue can be used in drug testing and medical research. Eventually, this tissue could be implanted into patients. Instead of relying on animal testing or synthetic materials, Frontier is building living, functional human tissue in the lab.

This company is backed by scientific and government funding sources, including the National Science Foundation. It counts high-profile advisors — including renowned geneticist George Church — as key members of its team.

Frontier is tackling two major problems at once: the limitations of animal testing and the shortage of transplantable human tissue. Many drugs that perform well in animals fail in humans, costing billions in wasted R&D. At the same time, thousands of patients die each year waiting for organ transplants.

That’s where Frontier’s platform comes in.

Today, the company produces lab-grown tissue models — such as blood vessels and lung tissue — that pharmaceutical companies and research institutions can use to test drugs and study disease. These models are designed to behave more like real human tissue, which can lead to better data and more reliable outcomes.

Longer term, it’s developing implantable tissues, starting with vascular grafts. These are lab-grown blood vessels designed to integrate with a patient’s body, potentially replacing synthetic implants that often come with complications. Over time, the company hopes this technology could expand into more complex tissues — and eventually, whole organs.

Frontier generates revenue by selling its tissue models and offering custom research services to pharma companies, biotech firms, and government agencies. Some of these contracts are sizable, giving the company early validation while it continues building toward its long-term vision.

In the future, it plans to generate additional revenue by bringing its implantable tissues to market, selling directly to hospitals and healthcare providers.

The market opportunity is significant. Tissue-engineered blood vessels represents a fifteen-billion-dollar market, while the need for implantable organs like pancreases, kidneys, and livers creates a market valued at more than $100 billion.

Frontier has generated millions in cumulative revenue, built relationships with major research institutions, and is advancing its vascular graft technology toward clinical trials.

Team Background

Eric Bennett - Chief Executive Officer

Prior to Frontier Bio, Eric served as Chief Technology Officer at Aether, where he led the development of advanced, low-cost bioprinters designed to make tissue engineering more accessible. Before that, his work spanned a range of cutting-edge scientific fields, including brain-computer interfaces, optogenetics, microfluidics, and DNA assembly — with a focus on using these technologies to better understand and treat neurological disorders.

Eric holds a Master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering, where his research centered on applying optogenetics and brain-computer interfaces to study and mitigate neural disorders.

George Church - Advisor

George is one of the pioneers of modern genetics and synthetic biology. Over his career, he has served as a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School and held roles at institutions including MIT, where his work has helped shape the field of genome engineering.

Earlier in his career, he developed one of the first methods for direct genome sequencing and played a key role in launching the Human Genome Project. His research has contributed to major advances in DNA sequencing, gene editing, and synthetic biology, and he has founded or advised dozens of biotech companies across these fields.

George holds both undergraduate degrees (B.A. and B.S.) from Duke University and a PhD from Harvard University, where his doctoral work focused on biochemistry and molecular biology.

Sam Pashneh-Tala - Chief Technology Officer

Before joining Frontier Bio, Sam ran a boutique consultancy focused on tissue engineering and advanced medical-device design. In this role, he worked with both industry and academic clients to develop next-generation biomedical technologies. Prior to that, he completed a research fellowship where he collaborated with leading medical device and 3D printing companies on tissue-engineered vascular systems.

Sam earned his PhD from the University of Sheffield, where his research focused on developing tissue-engineered blood vessels for both clinical use and laboratory applications.

Co-Investors

National Science Foundation