Join the club for FREE to access the whole archive and other member benefits.

Omega Therapeutics raises $85m for Epigenomic Controllers

New gene expression therapy for various targets, with clinical trial planned for 2021

29-Jul-2020

Key points from article :

Can one control gene expression but not create massive nucleic acid sequence changes?

Omega Therapeutics found an answer in a seminal paper published by Rick Young’s group at the Whitehead Institute.

Genes and their regulatory elements generally reside in loops closed off by a pair of CTCF proteins - insulated genomic domains (IGDs).

Its pitch was to create a controlled epigenetic programming platform for the control room of human biology.

Flagship Labs incubator helped raise $85 million financing from as yet unnamed investors.

Have five programs lined up in cancer, inflammation, autoimmune, metabolic & rare genetic diseases.

Cambridge, MA-based team expects to start its first clinical trial in 2021.

Leveraging mRNA & LNP as delivery vehicles also lends itself to modular design.

These easily-degraded proteins used by the human body to tune genes up or down should minimise hurdles on the safety front.

Cycle time of concept to initial testing to development-ready composition has shortened dramatically.

Mentioned in this article:

Click on resource name for more details.

Omega Therapeutics

Designing, engineering and manufacturing Epigenomic Controllers

Whitehead Institute

Non-profit research institution dedicated to improving human health through basic biomedical research

Topics mentioned on this page:
Epigenetics, Investments