Omega Therapeutics Announces Jennifer Nelson, Ph.D., as Senior Vice President of Research

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Aug. 14, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Omega Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: OMGA) (“Omega”), a biotechnology company pioneering the development of a new class of programmable epigenomic mRNA medicines, today announced the addition of Jennifer Nelson, Ph.D., to the Company’s executive leadership team in the role of Senior Vice President of Research. She brings over 20 years of experience working with RNA- and DNA-based therapies and technologies, and extensive expertise as a leader in building novel platforms.

“Jennifer has an impressive background as a scientist, platform strategist and biopharma leader, with a successful track record of fostering innovation in the field of RNA biology,” said Mahesh Karande, President and Chief Executive Officer of Omega Therapeutics. “As we continue to advance the OMEGA platform and pursue high-value strategic partnerships for our programmable epigenomic mRNA therapeutics, we believe her expertise across bio-platform development and her passion for the advancement of mRNA-based therapeutics will be invaluable to our team. I’m delighted to welcome Jennifer and I look forward to partnering with her.”

Dr. Nelson added, “Omega’s epigenomic controllers have significant potential to address a broad range of diseases, from cancer to obesity. The clinical proof of platform achieved to date underscores the progress the management team has made to advance precision epigenomic control. I am thrilled to build on this success and help realize the full potential of this approach to bring a new class of programmable mRNA medicines to patients.”

Prior to joining Omega, Dr. Nelson served as Vice President of Research at Flagship Pioneering, where she helped launch and develop bio-platform companies, including oversight of platform-related strategy and research. Previously, she served as Head of Vaccines at Laronde, having formerly led Platform Research, and played pivotal roles throughout her tenure advancing the company’s preclinical development, manufacturing capabilities and portfolio and IP strategy. Earlier in her career, Dr. Nelson held management positions of increasing responsibility at Moderna Therapeutics, culminating in a leading role advancing novel approaches to leveraging mRNA for therapeutic purposes. Dr. Nelson began her industry career at Archemix Therapeutics and later worked at GSK prior to joining Moderna.

Dr. Nelson is an author on numerous articles and patents focused on various nucleic acid technologies, including mRNA, circular RNA, ribozymes and aptamers. She received a Ph.D. in Chemistry and Biochemistry from the University of Colorado Boulder, a Master of Liberal Arts in Extension Studies, field: Management from Harvard University, and a B.A. from Northwestern University.

Thomas McCauley, Ph.D., who served as Chief Scientific Officer since 2019, will leave the company to pursue a new opportunity. “On behalf of the entire team, I would like to express our sincere appreciation for Tom’s contributions and service to Omega,” said Mr. Karande. “Tom was a great partner in helping to shape and advance our pioneering science and novel platform technology and we wish him well with his future endeavors.”

About Omega Therapeutics

Omega Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering the development of a new class of programmable epigenomic mRNA medicines to treat or cure a broad range of diseases. By pre-transcriptionally modulating gene expression, Omega’s approach enables precision epigenomic control of nearly all human genes, including historically undruggable and difficult-to-treat targets, without altering native nucleic acid sequences. Founded in 2017 by Flagship Pioneering following breakthrough research by world-renowned experts in the field of epigenetics, Omega is led by a seasoned and accomplished leadership team with a track record of innovation and operational excellence. The Company is committed to revolutionizing genomic medicine and has a pipeline of therapeutic candidates derived from its OMEGA platform spanning oncology, regenerative medicine, and multigenic diseases including inflammatory and cardiometabolic conditions.

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Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements contained in this press release that do not relate to matters of historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements, including without limitation, statements surrounding the potential of our development candidates; potential strategic partnerships; and Dr. Nelson’s impact on the Company in furthering its business objectives. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, the following: the novel technology on which our product candidates are based makes it difficult to predict the time and cost of preclinical and clinical development and subsequently obtaining regulatory approval, if at all; the substantial development and regulatory risks associated with epigenomic controllers due to the novel and unprecedented nature of this new category of medicines; our limited operating history; the incurrence of significant losses and the fact that we expect to continue to incur significant additional losses for the foreseeable future; our need for substantial additional financing; volatility in capital markets and general economic conditions; our investments in research and development efforts that further enhance the OMEGA platform, and their impact on our results; uncertainty regarding preclinical development, especially for a new class of medicines such as epigenomic controllers; potential delays in and unforeseen costs arising from our clinical trials; the fact that our product candidates may be associated with serious adverse events, undesirable side effects or have other properties that could halt their regulatory development, prevent their regulatory approval, limit their commercial potential, or result in significant negative consequences; difficulties manufacturing the novel technology on which our epigenomic controller candidates are based; our ability to adapt to rapid and significant technological change; our reliance on third parties for the manufacture of materials; our ability to successfully acquire and establish our own manufacturing facilities and infrastructure; our reliance on a limited number of suppliers for lipid excipients used in our product candidates; our ability to advance our product candidates to clinical development; and our ability to obtain, maintain, enforce and adequately protect our intellectual property rights. These and other important factors discussed under the caption “Risk Factors” in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2024, and our other filings with the SEC, could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the forward-looking statements made in this press release. Any such forward-looking statements represent management's estimates as of the date of this press release. While we may elect to update such forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we disclaim any obligation to do so, even if subsequent events cause our views to change.