Terrain Bio

Terrain Bio (Terrain Biosciences, Inc.) is a techbio company that combines machine learning models for RNA sequence optimization with an R&D-scale mRNA manufacturing platform. Positioned as an RNA design-build company and AI-first mRNA contract research organization, it helps therapeutics and vaccine developers identify and produce RNA sequences optimized for expression, durability, immunogenicity, stability and manufacturability, then build and test those constructs in the wet lab. Its offering spans a catalog of commonly used sequences, custom RNA builds, and AI-guided sequence design tools intended to support programs through preclinical milestones and IND submission.

The company's stated approach is to couple computational design with experimental feedback in a tight loop: manufacturing and testing generate preclinical data that in turn trains generative models for RNA design and active learning workflows. Target modalities include mRNA, cell and gene therapies, and personalized cancer vaccines. Terrain launched publicly from stealth on February 12, 2025 from Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was acquired by San Diego-based Eclipse Bioinnovations (Eclipsebio) in January 2026, where its design capabilities are being combined with Eclipsebio's sequencing-based analytics and quality control platforms (eMERGE and eVERSE) into an integrated Design, Make, Test offering.

Founding story

Terrain was founded by Omar Abudayyeh and Jonathan Gootenberg, professors at Harvard Medical School, and Patrick Hsu, professor at the Arc Institute and the University of California, Berkeley, together with Ex Nihilo. The three met roughly a decade earlier in Feng Zhang's CRISPR lab and had previously helped found organizations including the Arc Institute, Stylus Medicine and Tome Biosciences. Across those ventures they encountered recurring difficulties producing high-quality RNA molecules in-house and long lead times when ordering raw materials, and started Terrain as a contract research and manufacturing firm to build the capability they had wanted at their earlier companies.

Business model

Contract research and manufacturing services for RNA drug developers, delivered as a combination of AI-guided sequence design tools, a catalog of commonly used sequences, and custom RNA build and testing at R&D scale.

Fee-based services and products for RNA therapeutics developers, spanning catalog sequences, custom RNA builds, and AI-guided design tools.

Traction

At its February 2025 launch, more than a dozen biotech companies were using Terrain for RNA design and build, with delivery reported at 3-6x industry-standard speed.

Latest developments

In January 2026 Eclipse Bioinnovations acquired Terrain Bio to extend its sequencing-based analytics into an end-to-end Design, Make, Test platform, combining Terrain's design and manufacturing capabilities with Eclipsebio's eMERGE and eVERSE platforms. At the time of the February 2025 seed announcement, CEO Chetan Tadvalkar said the company planned to raise a Series A later that year.