- Event brings together leading academics, industry representatives and investors to share progress and discuss future directions in dark genome research
- Meeting aims to achieve a better understanding of how recent breakthroughs might be applied to the development of new therapeutic approaches
Oxford, UK, and Boston, Mass. – November 1, 2023 – Enara Bio, ROME Therapeutics and Nucleome Therapeutics, three leading biotechnology companies focused on developing novel medicines driven by insights into the dark genome, today announced that they will host the 2nd Annual Dark Genome Symposium on November 13-14, 2023 at the Francis Crick Institute in London. This event brings together leaders from academia, biotech, pharma and venture capital to continue to build and connect the growing and diverse dark genome community. The overall goal of the symposium, now in its second year, is to deepen our understanding of the dark genome and unlock its potential to enable transformational new therapies for patients.
There is an increasingly clear connection between the dark genome, that is the 98% of the genome that is not traditionally associated with protein-encoding genes, and a multitude of human diseases including cancer, autoimmune and neurodegenerative diseases. The rapid progress in dark genome science has catalyzed strong interest in the field and increasing involvement from academia, biotech and pharma companies, as well as life science investors.
During the meeting, future directions and new frontiers of dark genome research will be discussed, together with advancements in technologies and tools, progress in the field of gene regulation, and the latest insights into the dark genome’s genetics. The two-day event will feature keynote presentations by leading experts in the field, panel discussions on shared challenges and opportunities, networking events and a poster session representing the latest research.
Proceedings of the 1st Annual Dark Genome Symposium, held in November 2022 in Boston, Mass., have been submitted for publication.
Kevin Pojasek, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Enara Bio, commented: “After the success of last year’s inaugural Dark Genome Symposium, we are delighted to be co-hosting this year’s event with ROME and Nucleome at the Francis Crick Institute in London. There have been important advances in the field in the last 12 months and growing interest from the biopharma industry. Our view is that a strong collaborative effort will provide the best way to fully exploit the potential of the dark genome and bring a new generation of therapies to patients. This symposium offers an ideal forum to establish and advance those collaborations amongst many of the leaders in the field.”
“We have seen significant and growing interest in the dark genome since our inaugural symposium last fall. Breakthroughs in data science and biological understanding have made these genetic regions accessible for drug discovery in ways not previously possible; investors and companies are increasingly attuned to the great therapeutic opportunity this area represents. We are looking forward to gathering all these perspectives at this year’s event, as we work in tandem to deepen our scientific understanding of the dark genome to expand its applications and therapeutic impact,” said Rosana Kapeller, M.D., Ph.D., President, Chief Executive Officer and Co-founder of ROME.
Danuta Jeziorska, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer & Co-founder of Nucleome, added: “We are delighted to be joining Enara Bio and ROME Therapeutics in co-hosting this year’s Dark Genome Symposium. It is tremendously valuable to have the biotech, pharma, academic and investment community coming together to learn about new progress and help shape this nascent but fast emerging and valuable field to accelerate translation of the science into actionable insights. We look forward to a lively meeting as we discuss our joint passion for bringing transformative medicines to patients.”
The symposium agenda includes presentations and panel discussions on the translational application of LINE-1 biology, the dark genome as the next frontier of precision medicine, and harnessing immunity to Dark Antigens® for therapeutic benefit. A list of confirmed speakers and the agenda for the event can be found by clicking here.
Those interested in attending the livestream may reach out to DarkGenome2023@enarabio.com for more details.
About Enara Bio
Enara Bio is shining a light on Dark Antigen® and T-cell biology to develop cancer immunotherapies designed to improve treatment outcomes for broad populations of cancer patients. Our pioneering EDAPT® platform enables us to discover novel cancer-specific antigens from previously uncharted genomic ‘dark matter’. The result is a growing database of Dark Antigens that can address the unmet need for cancer-specific targets that are homogenously expressed and highly prevalent in solid tumors. We are advancing multiple approaches to exploit these Dark Antigen targets, with an internal focus on TCR-directed immunotherapies, and additional therapeutic partnerships with Boehringer Ingelheim and another undisclosed global pharmaceutical company. Based in Oxford, UK, Enara Bio is backed by RA Capital, Samsara Biocapital and SV Health Investors. For more information, please visit: www.enarabio.com
Enara Bio Media Contact
Frazer Hall, Mark Swallow
MEDiSTRAVA Consulting
enarabio@medistrava.com
About ROME
ROME Therapeutics is developing novel therapies for a range of serious diseases, including autoimmune disease, cancer, and neurodegeneration, by illuminating the role of the dark genome — the vast genomic expanse beyond the traditional genes, which includes virus-like repetitive elements and non-coding sequences — in human health and disease. Leveraging the company’s unprecedented data sciences platform, ROME has built a deep pipeline of therapies targeting the dark genome. To lead this exploration, ROME has assembled a team of world-class leaders in drug discovery and development across immunology, oncology, chemistry, and machine learning. ROME is based in Boston, Mass. For more information, please visit www.rometx.com.
ROME Media Contact
Lisa Raffensperger
Ten Bridge Communications
lisa@tenbridgecommunications.com
About Nucleome Therapeutics
Nucleome Therapeutics is decoding the dark matter of the human genome to uncover novel ways to treat disease. The dark genome holds more than 90% of disease-linked genetic variants whose value remains untapped, representing a significant opportunity for drug discovery and development. The Company has the unique ability to link these variants to gene function and precisely map disease pathways. Nucleome’s cell type-specific platform creates high resolution 3D genome structure maps and enables variant functional validation at scale in primary cell types, enabling the discovery and development of novel, better and safer drugs. The initial focus of the company is on lymphocytes and related autoimmune disease. Nucleome’s ambition is to build a robust pipeline of drug assets, with corresponding biomarkers. Nucleome Therapeutics was founded by leading experts in gene regulation from the University of Oxford. For more information, please visit www.nucleome.com.
Nucleome Media contact
Mary-Jane Elliott/ Sukaina Virji/ Stella Lempidaki
ICR Consilium
