Tempus is a technology company working to bring the power of artificial intelligence to healthcare. Founded in 2015 and based in Chicago, the company's central mission is to advance precision medicine. But what does that actually mean?

Traditional medicine often treats diseases with a one-size-fits-all approach. Two patients with the same type of cancer might receive the same treatment, even if their bodies and the specific drivers of their diseases are very different. Tempus aims to change this by giving doctors tools to provide personalized, data-driven care.

To make personalized medicine a reality, Tempus is building one of the world's largest libraries of clinical and molecular data. This isn't just a database; it's an operating system for cancer and other diseases. The company collects and analyzes different types of information, from a patient's genetic code to their medical images and treatment history.

Medical data is often messy and siloed in different systems. A key part of Tempus's work is structuring this information, cleaning it up, and making it machine-readable. Once the data is organized, AI algorithms can sift through it to find subtle patterns that would be impossible for humans to detect. These patterns can reveal insights into how a disease might progress and which treatments are most likely to work for a specific person.

Tempus offers a suite of AI-enabled solutions that connect the lab, the clinic, and the pharmacy. Here are some of the key services:

Beyond just sequencing, Tempus provides tools for:

• Clinical Data Structuring: Turning unstructured notes from doctors' records into clean, organized data ready for analysis.
• Image Recognition: Using AI to analyze medical images like pathology slides and scans to identify disease characteristics that might be missed by the human eye.
• Clinical Trial Matching: An intelligent system that finds and suggests relevant clinical trials for patients based on their specific molecular and clinical profile.
• Real-World Evidence: Generating insights from data collected during routine patient care, helping researchers and doctors understand how treatments perform outside of controlled studies.

While its technology can be applied broadly, Tempus initially focused on oncology, where a personalized approach is critical. Cancer is fundamentally a disease of the genome, making it a perfect fit for the company's data-driven model.

Building on its success in cancer care, Tempus has expanded into other complex areas where precision medicine holds great promise. These include neurology (like brain tumors and epilepsy), cardiology, and infectious diseases, such as COVID-19.

By creating a continuous feedback loop—where data from each patient helps inform and improve the care for the next—Tempus is working to make healthcare more precise, personalized, and effective for everyone.

Now, let's test your understanding of Tempus and its mission.

Understanding these core aspects of Tempus's business provides a solid foundation for seeing how different roles contribute to its overall mission.