Rat Brain AI Startup TBC Joins AWS in Limited Preview Launch
Select AWS customers can access TBC’s rat-neuron-trained AI model starting Tuesday in September 2026, with rollout to all enterprise customers expected soon. The Baltimore startup raised $25 million and targets improved AI video generation.
A biological computing startup that trains AI models using neural patterns from rat brain cells has secured a major distribution deal with Amazon. Starting Tuesday, September 2026, select Amazon Web Services customers can access The Biological Computing Company’s AI model through a limited preview, with a full rollout to all AWS enterprise customers expected soon.
The Biological Computing Company — known as TBC — was founded four years ago in Baltimore, Maryland by neuroscientists and neurosurgeons Alexander Ksendzovsky, who serves as CEO, and Jon Pomeraniec, president and COO. Earlier in 2026, the company raised $25 million in its first significant funding round, led by Primary Venture Partners.
TBC’s technology is specifically designed to improve AI video generation. The company records activity from rat brain cells using multi-electrode arrays, encodes information such as images into that biological material, observes how it is processed, and then builds software tools that replicate the process. “We figured out a way to code information, like images for example, to the biological material,” Ksendzovsky said. “We then observe how the biology processes that information, and then we build a tool that mimics that process.”
Deap Ubhi, global director of technology for startups at AWS, said TBC’s appeal lies in its practical focus. Rather than attempting to redesign the transformer architecture underlying large language models, TBC works within existing generative AI standards to make visual models more efficient, Ubhi explained. AWS also works with Cortical Labs, an Australia-based company that pairs lab-grown neurons with silicon chips and offers what it calls “wetware as a service.”
The deal reflects growing industry interest in biological computing, a field in which brain cells, stem cells, or synthetic biomaterials are kept alive, monitored, and translated into digital information. The approach comes with significant operational challenges, as it requires maintaining active biology labs alongside traditional software development.