A new frontier in biology
A new way to conquer disease
At ROME Therapeutics, we are illuminating the dark genome to pioneer a new approach to treating serious diseases.
For decades, drug discovery has focused on just 2% of the human genome. The remaining 98% is known as the dark genome: vast regions of underexplored territory and untapped therapeutic opportunity.
We believe the dark genome holds the next wave of therapeutic approaches and insights. We are on a mission to leverage these insights to develop breakthrough treatments for people with cancer, debilitating autoimmune diseases and beyond.
What is the dark genome?
The dark genome consists of long stretches of DNA outside of the genes that encode traditional proteins. The majority of the dark genome is comprised of repetitive elements, or genomic repeats.
Many genomic repeats originated from ancient viruses and retrotransposons that have multiplied themselves throughout our genome. In healthy cells, they are inactive. However, a growing body of evidence shows that when cells are injured or diseased, repeats are turned on — serving as a disease-specific signature that we can target therapeutically.
Our pipeline
ROME has nominated a development candidate that represents a first-in-class approach to the treatment of autoimmune diseases.
We are advancing a deep pipeline of novel therapies informed by the insights generated by our data science platform and our deep knowledge of repeat biology.
Latest news and presentations
ROME Therapeutics Presents First Data to Validate LINE-1 RT as a Novel Target in Autoimmune Diseases and the Therapeutic Potential of its First-in-Class LINE-1 RT Inhibitors
Elevated LINE-1 Expression in SLE Keratinocytes Leads to LINE-1 Reverse Transcriptase-dependent Type I Interferon Responses | ACR Convergence 2023
Enara Bio, ROME Therapeutics and Nucleome Therapeutics Host 2nd Annual Dark Genome Symposium