Outer Biosciences uses AI and living skin tissue for research

Outer Biosciences, a Massachusetts-based startup co-founded by Michael Polansky, has emerged from stealth mode to reveal technology that keeps human skin tissue viable outside the body for up to one month. The company utilizes tissue typically discarded during surgical procedures, such as plastic surgery, to study long-term biological processes including collagen remodeling, pigmentation changes, and barrier repair.

The company uses this living tissue to train an artificial intelligence model. The AI predicts how specific chemicals might affect skin functions, and the results of testing those chemicals on the living tissue are fed back into the model to improve its accuracy. This iterative loop has reportedly increased the speed of identifying candidate compounds from one every 18 months to approximately one every six weeks.

Lady Gaga, who is engaged to Polansky, serves on the company’s board of directors. While the startup is not a consumer cosmetic brand, it aims to discover biological mechanisms and ingredients to be licensed to pharmaceutical and beauty companies. Outer Biosciences has raised approximately $23 million and currently employs 19 people.