Outer Biosciences reveals AI-driven approach to living skin research
Startup founded by Michael Polansky uses proprietary systems to keep human tissue viable for up to a month, aiming to accelerate the discovery of new skincare ingredients.
Michael Polansky, the creative and business partner of Lady Gaga, has publicly revealed his AI and biology startup, Outer Biosciences. Founded in 2022, the company sources discarded human skin tissue from surgeries and uses a proprietary support system to keep the tissue alive for up to a month outside the body. This extended viability allows researchers to test skincare compounds and observe slower biological processes, such as collagen remodelling, which are typically missed by standard short-term tests that only keep tissue viable for a matter of days.
The company employs an AI model to predict which chemicals will benefit specific skin functions. These predicted chemicals are then tested on the living tissue, with the results fed back into the model to improve its accuracy. Polansky stated that the company is currently generating a new candidate ingredient roughly every six weeks, with six leads currently active in its pipeline. This pace represents a significant improvement over the company’s earlier "brute force" approach, which relied on mining scientific literature and partnering with the National Cancer Institute.
Outer Biosciences has raised approximately $23 million to date, with early backers including Calm Capital, Brighter Capital, and Polansky’s own investing firm, Hawktail. The company employs 19 people, with all staff except Polansky based just outside Cambridge, Massachusetts. To maintain data security, the company currently runs all of its AI work on-premise rather than in the cloud.
The startup plans to license or sell its finished ingredients to beauty and pharmaceutical companies rather than building its own consumer brand. In the interim, the company is generating revenue from collaborative research partnerships, including a pharmaceutical partner studying skin rashes caused by cancer drugs. Polansky noted that four of the company’s six current leads look likely to reach commercialisation.
Polansky, who previously worked as a principal at Founders Fund and ran Sean Parker’s family office, met Lady Gaga in late 2019. Gaga sits on the board of Outer Biosciences, and the companies collaborate at the margins, with Outer Biosciences’ chief scientist serving on the scientific advisory board of Gaga’s cosmetics brand, Haus Labs.
While competitors such as Vivodyne are pursuing similar technologies using lab-grown tissue, Polansky believes Outer Biosciences’ use of real human tissue provides a distinct advantage. He stated that the company’s goal is to build a predictive model accurate enough to spot promising directions in skin biology without needing to run every experiment physically first.
