diff --git a/lib/menu.js b/lib/menu.js
index ed974f9..f3f5c97 100644
--- a/lib/menu.js
+++ b/lib/menu.js
@@ -49,17 +49,22 @@ class Menu {
     }
 
     static populate_genomes(navbar) {
-        fetch('https://s3.amazonaws.com/igv.org.genomes/genomes.json', { mode: 'cors' })
-            .then(response => response.json())
-            .then(data => {
-                const menu = navbar.querySelector(".igv-dropdown[data-name='Genome'] > .igv-dropdown-content");
-                menu.appendChild(document.createElement('hr'));
-                for (const genome of data) {
-                    menu.appendChild(Menu.create_menu_item(genome.name, (igv_instance) => {
-                        igv_instance.loadGenome(genome);
-                    }));
-                }
-            });
+        try {
+            fetch('https://s3.amazonaws.com/igv.org.genomes/genomes.json', {mode: 'cors'})
+                .then(response => response.json())
+                .then(data => {
+                    const menu = navbar.querySelector(".igv-dropdown[data-name='Genome'] > .igv-dropdown-content");
+                    menu.appendChild(document.createElement('hr'));
+                    for (const genome of data) {
+                        menu.appendChild(Menu.create_menu_item(genome.name, (igv_instance) => {
+                            igv_instance.loadGenome(genome);
+                        }));
+                    }
+                });
+        }
+        catch (error) {
+            console.log('Cannot load genomes.json, disabling genome list functionality')
+        }
     }
 
     static create_menu_item(name, callback) {