Last week, some of the world's leading microprotein researchers gathered in Umeå, Sweden, for a Nobel Symposium dedicated entirely to decoding microproteins.

The three-day meeting brought together experts from across bacteria, fungi, plants and human biology to discuss how microproteins are identified, how they evolved and what they do. A huge thank you to organizers Stephan Wenkel and Iker Valle Aramburu at Umeå University for putting together such a fantastic program!

ORFeus was well represented. Seven of our fifteen principal investigators were invited speakers: Julie Aspden, Mar Albà, Simon Elsässer, Owen Rackham, Petra van Damme, Michal Bassani-Sternberg and our coordinator Sebastiaan van Heesch. Mar and Simon also served on the symposium's scientific organizing committee. On top of that, seven of our interdisciplinary academic advisors presented their work, including Ami Bhatt, John Prensner, Anne-Ruxandra Carvunis, Thomas Martinez, Sarah Slavoff, Sonia Chothani and Lena Ho.

With the official project start just two weeks away, the timing could not have been better. Having so many ORFeus PIs and advisors in the same room gave us a valuable opportunity to discuss plans for the first months of the program, align on recruitment and talk through ideas for the training schools. Our project manager Simon Venneman was also there to connect with the broader microprotein community and spread the word about the fifteen open positions launching on October 1.

We are proud to be part of this growing field, and excited to train the next generation of scientists who will take it forward!