A vast layer of biology,
hidden in plain sight.

Across every genome lie thousands of very small proteins, long overlooked. ORFeus is a European doctoral network decoding this dark proteome and what it could mean for cancer and immunity.

We can sequence a human genome in a day. Yet we are still largely blind to part of it. Hidden among the sequences once assumed to be non-coding are thousands of very small proteins, called microproteins, that our methods have long struggled to detect.

They are easy to miss but far from trivial. Known examples regulate metabolism, shape how an embryo forms, and have even been refined into potent drugs. A first task for ORFeus is to build better tools to find and study them at all. With those tools, the network reads which hidden sequences a cell is really turning into protein, works out what those microproteins do, and asks where they matter most, especially in cancer and the immune system. Much of this is still unproven. Creating the methods and the evidence to test it is exactly what this network is for.

ORFeus builds the tools and reference data to detect what the genome really translates, and to see the proteins others miss.

The network works out what these microproteins actually do, from their structures and interactions to their roles across species and in single cells.

ORFeus explores how hidden proteins could become candidate targets in cancer, for immunotherapies and vaccines that train the immune system to recognize tumors.

ORFeus is a fully funded doctoral program for 15 researchers. You join one of Europe’s leading labs, take on a project that matters, and train alongside a cohort of peers through residential schools, hands-on workshops, and a placement with an industry partner. You are supported throughout by experienced mentors across more than one institution and across both academia and industry.