Michael Polansky is training an AI model on skin that's still alive
Michael Polansky’s Outer Biosciences has kept human skin alive outside the body for up to 30 days, allowing the company to train AI models on living tissue for the first time, the firm told TechCrunch.
Source: TechCrunch · August 22, 2026 at 2:31 PM · AI-assisted report
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KUALA LUMPUR, 22 AUGUST 2026 —
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Michael Polansky’s Outer Biosciences has kept human skin alive outside the body for up to 30 days, allowing the company to train AI models on living tissue for the first time, the firm told TechCrunch.
Market Impact
Outer Biosciences sources discarded tissue from vetted non-profit and commercial biobanks, including the National Disease Research Interchange and the Cooperative Human Tissue Network, both of which operate under institutional review board oversight and documented donor consent. Polansky said the company pays fees on a cost-recovery basis rather than purchasing tissue outright, and spends roughly two years building the supply pipeline to receive tissue within hours of surgery while it is still living.
The industry standard for keeping excised tissue viable is a matter of days, which is sufficient for acute toxicity testing but not for observing slower biological processes such as collagen remodeling, pigmentation change, or barrier repair that can take weeks. Outer Biosciences’ proprietary support system feeds the tissue nutrients and removes metabolic waste, extending its viable life to about a month while preserving its day-zero architecture and molecular programs.
“That extra time buys us the ability to simulate what happens in the body over weeks,” Polansky said. “We’re not healing the skin; we’re watching an injury happen and then watching the recovery.”
The breakthrough matters for dermatology and cosmetics, where clinical trials are time-consuming and expensive. AI models trained on living tissue could reduce the need for animal testing and human trials, accelerating product development cycles and lowering costs. For Malaysian companies in the pharmaceutical and consumer goods sectors, access to such technology could shorten time-to-market for new treatments and skincare products, provided regulatory approval is granted.
Polansky co-founded Outer Biosciences in 2022 with Kyung-Jin Jang (chief scientist), Chris Hinojosa (CTO), and Stanley King (chief business officer). Before entering biotech, he worked at Bridgewater Associates, co-founded Founders Fund with Peter Thiel and Sean Parker, and served as executive director of the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy. He is also in a personal and professional partnership with Stefani Germanotta, better known as Lady Gaga, who sits on the board of Outer Biosciences.
The company’s approach to tissue sourcing emphasizes ethics and privacy, Polansky said. Every sample arrives de-identified, stripped of names and contact information by the supplying organizations, and the tissue is not owned outright but accessed through agreements that reflect the original donor consent.
Outer Biosciences’ living-tissue platform could also influence the broader field of AI in biology, where most models are trained on static, synthetic, or post-mortem tissue samples. By capturing dynamic biological responses, the company aims to improve the accuracy of AI predictions for drug efficacy, toxicity, and disease progression.
Polansky declined to disclose funding details or the number of tissue samples processed so far. He said the company is focused on scaling the platform and collaborating with academic and industry partners to validate its applications.
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