Lady Gaga's Partner Is Quietly Building an AI System That Keeps Skin Tissue Alive Outside the Body
Entrepreneur Michael Polansky, also known as Lady Gaga's partner, has revealed his biotech startup Outer Biosciences, which pairs AI with living human skin tissue kept alive for over a month to discover new cosmetic ingredients. The company has quietly built this technology for years before going public with it now.
Michael Polansky is widely known as the partner of musician Lady Gaga (Stefani Germanotta), but he also runs Outer Biosciences, a startup that has spent years quietly developing technology to keep living human skin tissue alive outside the body for more than a month.
Polansky studied applied mathematics and computer science at Harvard before working at hedge fund Bridgewater Associates. He later joined investor Sean Parker, working at Founders Fund and then Parker's family office, where he helped establish the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy. He met Germanotta in 2019, and the two have since become both personal and professional partners, with Gaga now sitting on Outer Biosciences' board.
From cancer research to living skin
Outer Biosciences, founded by Polansky in 2022, grew out of frustration that biology research lags behind software innovation because there's no ethical way to experiment directly on humans. Instead of relying on animal models or lab-grown organoids, the company sources real human skin that would otherwise be discarded after surgery, mostly plastic surgery, obtained through vetted biobanks under donor consent protocols. Tissue arrives within hours of surgery, still living and fully de-identified.
A proprietary system feeds the tissue nutrients and removes waste, extending its viable life well beyond the industry norm of just a few days. This extra time allows researchers to study slower biological processes, such as collagen remodeling or skin barrier repair after simulated sunburn damage.
AI speeds up ingredient discovery
An AI model predicts which untested chemicals could benefit specific skin functions; those candidates are then tested on the living tissue, with results fed back into the model to refine future predictions. While early research using a brute-force approach yielded only a couple of leads over roughly 18 months, the company now generates a new candidate roughly every six weeks, with six active leads in its pipeline.
Rather than build its own consumer brand, Outer Biosciences plans to license or sell its discovered ingredients to beauty and pharmaceutical companies. The company has raised about $23 million to date and employs 19 people. Competitors, including Philadelphia-based Vivodyne, are pursuing similar approaches using lab-grown organ tissue.
