Frontier Bio: Pioneering Vascular Bioengineering to Address the Organ Shortage

Frontier Bio's groundbreaking research in vascular bioengineering is at the forefront of regenerative medicine and drug discovery, bridging the gap between tissue modeling and graft development.

Every year, a tragic number of patients lose their lives while on the waiting list for a donor organ that never becomes available. Despite significant advancements in surgical procedures and immunosuppressive treatments, the worldwide deficit of transplantable organs continues to be one of the most persistent challenges in modern medicine. For decades, scientists have envisioned a future where damaged tissues could be seamlessly replaced with equivalents grown in a laboratory, but the path to realizing this vision has been fraught with complexities.

At the heart of this challenge is a fundamental biological principle that governs all living things: tissues require a blood supply. Without a functional vascular system to provide oxygen and nutrients, even the most advanced lab-grown tissues cannot survive beyond a certain size. This critical limitation has been the primary obstacle preventing the dream of fully engineered organs from becoming a reality.

A growing number of innovative biotechnology firms are now focusing their efforts on the body's most essential infrastructure—its blood vessels. Among these pioneering companies is Frontier Bio, founded by the visionary Eric Bennett. Frontier Bio is dedicated to making engineered tissues a viable option for transplantation. Bennett firmly believes that conquering the challenge of vascularization is the key to solving the organ transplant crisis itself.

“We build engineered tissues, starting with blood vessels, to end the organ transplant waitlist.”

Why Start with Blood Vessels

Bennett’s logic is clear and compelling. Every organ, regardless of its complexity, relies on a network of vessels to deliver nutrients, remove waste, and maintain structural integrity. Without this network, tissues grown in a lab are confined to a microscopic scale.

“The long-term vision is to create any and all tissues, no matter the complexity. But that’s not possible without first being able to create the most fundamental tissue of all: blood vessels.”

While many companies aim to recreate entire organs, Frontier Bio has strategically chosen to start where all organs begin—with vascular grafts. This approach may seem incremental, but it is firmly rooted in both biological necessity and a significant clinical opportunity.

Small-diameter vascular grafts are crucial in procedures like coronary and peripheral bypass surgery. Existing synthetic options, such as those made from ePTFE or Dacron, often work well in larger vessels but are prone to failure in smaller ones, where issues like thrombosis and poor tissue integration pose serious risks. Bennett recognized an opportunity to leverage biofabrication to create a superior alternative.

A Living Graft

Frontier Bio’s vascular graft is a testament to their innovative spirit, combining the precision of biomaterials engineering with the adaptive power of a patient’s own cells.

“Our approach uses an off-the-shelf, bioresorbable scaffold that the surgeon seeds intraoperatively with the patient’s own cells using a point-of-care system, then implants it in the same procedure.”

This streamlined process eliminates the long manufacturing times that have plagued previous personalized graft technologies. Instead, the scaffold is prepared during surgery and implanted immediately. Once in place, it acts as a temporary structure, guiding cell attachment, growth, and organization.

“In the body, the scaffold guides rapid endothelial coverage and tissue remodelling and gradually resorbs as native extracellular matrix (ECM) forms. By tuning compliance, porosity and surface cues, we aim to reduce thrombotic risk and approach the performance of autologous grafts without the added harvest time.”

As the bioresorbable scaffold degrades, it is replaced by the patient’s own extracellular matrix, resulting in a vessel that functions and remodels just like native tissue.

From Surgery to the Laboratory Bench

Although Frontier Bio’s ultimate mission is clinical, their deep expertise in vascular systems has also given rise to a flourishing business in preclinical research models. The company has developed sophisticated organ-on-a-chip and mini-organ systems that replicate human physiology on a small scale for drug discovery and toxicology testing.

“Our expertise in blood vessels enables us to create additional tissues supported by our vessels. For example, we’ve created lung and brain models with vascular components for preclinical testing applications.”

These advanced platforms offer an ethical and scientifically relevant alternative to animal testing, enabling researchers to observe how human tissues respond to new compounds under controlled conditions. For Frontier Bio, these models have become both a source of revenue and a vital testing ground for their core technologies.

“This has allowed us to work with customers to generate revenue and priceless know-how for Frontier Bio, while generating useful, human-relevant data for the customer (as an alternative to testing in animals).”

Early In Vivo Results

Bringing a tissue-engineered product to human trials requires rigorous preclinical evidence. Frontier Bio has already completed a large animal study to evaluate the safety and performance of its grafts, with promising results.

“We’ve completed our first large animal study in which our graft was implanted in the carotid artery of a porcine model. Early follow-up showed no adverse events occurred (no thrombosis, infection, rupture, or stenosis). We also observed luminal endothelialisation and cell infiltration throughout the scaffold.”

The next crucial step is to demonstrate the same stability and function over longer periods—six months or more—before advancing toward clinical evaluation.

Expanding to the Brain and Beyond

Having established a robust vascular platform, Frontier Bio is now extending its capabilities to more complex tissue systems. One exciting area of active collaboration is the blood-brain barrier (BBB), a tightly regulated interface that protects the brain from toxins and pathogens but also blocks many potential drugs.

“Near term, we are expanding our blood-brain barrier model for neurotherapeutic development with partners, where better human in vitro systems are badly needed.”

Accurately replicating the BBB in vitro has been a long-standing challenge for pharmaceutical researchers. Frontier Bio’s vascularized models have the potential to allow new therapies for neurological diseases to be screened with greater precision, saving valuable time and resources in early-stage development.

Looking further ahead, Bennett envisions creating vascularized brain tissue grafts to repair localized damage following a stroke or trauma. The company is also exploring programs in the lung, kidney, pancreas, and liver, all built upon the same foundational vascular technology.

Replacement Over Repair

The company’s remarkable progress has captured the attention of forward-thinking investors focused on the science of longevity. Frontier Bio recently received backing from the esteemed Immortal Dragons, led by the insightful Boyang Wang. Immortal Dragons' philosophy of “replacement over repair” perfectly aligns with Bennett’s own vision for the future of regenerative medicine.

“Even if you could rejuvenate every cell in the body, the ECM often remains cross-linked, stiffened and structurally damaged. These are issues gene therapies alone may not fully resolve.”

He argues that true regeneration requires addressing both the cellular and structural components of tissue. Biofabrication offers the potential to do both simultaneously.

“Our focus on biofabricating vascularised, transplant-ready tissues is designed to address both the cells and the ECM, so we can ultimately replace failing tissues and organs rather than only trying to patch them.”

This approach represents a paradigm shift from merely stimulating the body’s natural repair processes to engineering fully functional replacements from the ground up.

A Pragmatic Vision for Regeneration

For Bennett, success depends not only on scientific innovation but also on practical integration into the healthcare system. By focusing on modular, scalable technologies like vascular grafts, Frontier Bio is creating a platform that can evolve incrementally toward more complex applications.

As tissue engineering moves closer to clinical reality, companies like Frontier Bio are taking a more practical and effective approach to regenerative medicine. By focusing on the vascular systems that support every tissue, rather than attempting to fabricate whole organs at once, they are addressing one of the primary barriers to clinical translation. Bennett’s approach, backed by the strategic support of partners like Immortal Dragons and Boyang Wang, combines scientific insight with engineering precision, recognizing that progress in organ biofabrication begins with mastering its fundamental components.

About Immortal Dragons

Immortal Dragons (https://www.id.life/) is a purpose-driven longevity fund headquartered in Singapore. The fund invests in cutting-edge, high-impact technologies and currently supports more than 15 portfolio companies. Beyond conventional investments, the fund advances longevity advocacy through book translation and publishing, translation of longevity leaders’ talks, hosting a leading Chinese-language longevity podcast, and providing sponsorships and grants to longevity initiatives and conferences.

About Eric Bennett

Eric is a serial entrepreneur and biomedical engineer. Before founding Frontier Bio, he was CTO at Aether, where he developed advanced low-cost bioprinters. His scientific background spans brain‒computer interfacing, optogenetics, microfluidics, DNA assembly and bioprinting. His earlier work included using optogenetics and brain‒computer interfaces to study and mitigate neural disorders. Eric is motivated to create technologies that extend the boundaries of what is possible.

For Press Inquiries:
Boyang Wang
Founder, Immortal Dragons
press@id.life