Integrating Technologies for Synthetic, Systems, and Spatial Approaches in Cancer Research

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Emerging tools for spatial analysis, systems biology, and synthetic biology offer opportunities to observe, dissect, and perturb cancer mechanisms, to design strategies for the prevention of oncogenesis, and to identify therapies that lead to durable tumor control. Here, we summarize perspectives from the virtual Innovation Lab on “Synthetic and Systems Approaches to Interrogate Spatiotemporal Processes in Cancer” (S3) hosted by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which assembled interdisciplinary experts to discuss cancer spatial organization and dynamic cellular interactions and how they can be addressed by leveraging novel synthetic and systems biology approaches. These discussions focused especially on cancer initiation, which results from a failure of systems control. To catalyze innovation across the research community, we summarize key insights from these events into a vision for integrated synthetic, systems, and spatial approaches in cancer research.