Tempo Therapeutics Receives $2.25 Million NIH Grant for MAP™ Technology

SAN DIEGO, Sept. 23, 2026 /CourierPR/ -- Tempo Therapeutics, a clinical-stage regenerative medicine company, has received a $2.25 million Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), to advance its MAP™ Technology for complex wound healing. The company aims to demonstrate that its proprietary Microporous Annealed Particle (MAP™) Wound Matrix can provide a novel approach to wound management, accelerating the formation of healthy tissue while minimizing the inflammatory foreign-body response.

The grant, awarded under the R44CA314892 program, will support a randomized clinical study, titled MOSAIC II, which will evaluate the MAP Wound Matrix in patients undergoing reconstructive surgery following non-melanoma skin cancer resections. Stephanie Deshayes, Ph.D., Vice President of Research & Development at Tempo Therapeutics, will lead the study as the Principal Investigator.

MAP™ Technology is designed to support volumetric tissue regeneration, addressing the limitations of traditional wound management methods that can trigger persistent foreign-body responses. Unlike conventional approaches, MAP was engineered to support the body's natural regenerative processes, minimizing inflammatory signaling associated with implanted materials. The goal is to enable rapid, volumetric growth of healthy tissue within complex wounds and create a vascularized wound bed suitable for subsequent reconstruction or grafting.

The MOSAIC II study builds upon Tempo Therapeutics' recently published first-in-human randomized, controlled, multicenter study in patients with full-thickness wounds following Mohs surgery for non-melanoma skin cancer. In that study, MAP-treated wounds achieved a favorable Wound Bed Score approximately 14 days earlier than controls, without delaying overall wound closure. At approximately six months, MAP-treated wounds also demonstrated significantly improved physician-assessed scar quality and reduced soft tissue volume loss compared with standard-of-care hydrocolloid treatment.

The MOSAIC II study is expected to extend these findings into a clinically important reconstructive setting by evaluating whether MAP can reduce the time required to develop a wound bed suitable for grafting following complex non-melanoma skin cancer resections with exposed bone. The NIH award specifically supports one or more clinical trials and identifies the MOSAIC II randomized clinical study as the funded project.

Tempo Therapeutics is a privately held, clinical-stage regenerative medicine company developing synthetic biomaterials designed to enable the body to regenerate healthy tissue. The company is leveraging its patented MAP™ technology platform to develop products for surgical reconstruction and wound healing, with additional opportunities in aesthetic dermatology and other regenerative medicine applications.