The Two Frontiers Project

Our Team

Leadership

Founder, Executive Director

Braden T Tierney, PhD

Dr. Tierney is the co-founder and executive director of the Two Frontiers Project. His research integrates data science, microbiology, and human health, focusing on how large-scale computational models and experimental methods can harness microbial diversity for societal benefit. His work advances next-generation microbial therapeutics and diagnostics for human and the environment, including technologies for microbial-community-driven molecular recycling. Dr. Tierney earned dual undergraduate degrees in Economics and Biology from Duke University, a Ph.D. from Harvard Medical School, and completed his postdoctoral training at Weill Cornell Medical College. To get in touch, reach out to: braden at twofrontiers dot org

Founder, Director of Operations

Krista A Ryon

Krista is a biologist who specializes in environmental genomics. Krista worked previously on clinical research centered around neurodegenerative diseases, specifically identifying risk factors for Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB) and Alzheimer's Disease (AD), examining the blood-brain barrier. Her recent work has focused on microbiology, metagenomic and data analyses. Specifically, Krista works with a wide array of human and environmental samples and specializes in preparing low-biomass samples for Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS). She is acquainted with a wide array of NGS platforms (i.e., Illumina, Oxford Nanopore, and Pacific Biosciences of California (PacBio). From 2018 to 2025, Krista worked as leadership in the MetaSUB Consortium, an interdisciplinary initiative composed of experts across many fields, including genomics, data analysis, engineering, public health, and design (www.metasub.org).

Founder, Director of Research and Development

James R Henriksen, PhD

James Henriksen is an environmental microbiologist and bioinformatician who draws on the vast scope of microbial biochemical diversity to address global issues. He has over 20 years of experience in building experimental platforms and bioinformatics pipelines in DOE National Labs, universities, and biotech startups. In addition to his role in the Two Frontiers Project, he currently holds a Research Scientist position at Colorado State University in the Natural Resource Ecology Laboratory and the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering. His work focuses on discovering the novel biochemical capabilities of microbiomes using emerging technology in the field, high-throughput culturing in the lab, and novel computational approaches.