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

Journal article

Karmella A. Haynes, Kolade Adebowale, Belinda S. Akpa, Joel S. Bader, Trisha Bansal, J. Breunig, Ran Brosh, Lukasz J. Bugaj, G. Burslem, Awalpreet S. Chadha, Moumita Das, Tara L. Deans, Cole A. DeForest, L. Dooling, Zev J. Gartner, Laura M. Heiser, Alex J. Hughes, Melissa L. Kemp, K. Korolev, Chun-Ru Lin, T. Lionnet, Xin Lu, A. McGuigan, H. Mirzaei, A. J. Nirmal, Marina Pasca di Magliano, A. Poulopoulos, Kunal Rai, José Reyes, Dagan Segal, M. Sewell-Loftin, E. Shmeleva, Adam Stevens, S. Subramanian, T. Tlsty, J. Totonchy, Alexander E. Vlahos, Pei Wang, Ioannis K. Zervantonakis, Yan-Ding Zhao, Jeffrey H. Chuang
ACS Synthetic Biology, 2026

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APA Click to copy
Haynes, K. A., Adebowale, K., Akpa, B. S., Bader, J. S., Bansal, T., Breunig, J., … Chuang, J. H. (2026). Integrating Technologies for Synthetic, Systems, and Spatial Approaches in Cancer Research. ACS Synthetic Biology.

Chicago/Turabian Click to copy
Haynes, Karmella A., Kolade Adebowale, Belinda S. Akpa, Joel S. Bader, Trisha Bansal, J. Breunig, Ran Brosh, et al. “Integrating Technologies for Synthetic, Systems, and Spatial Approaches in Cancer Research.” ACS Synthetic Biology (2026).

MLA Click to copy
Haynes, Karmella A., et al. “Integrating Technologies for Synthetic, Systems, and Spatial Approaches in Cancer Research.” ACS Synthetic Biology, 2026.

BibTeX Click to copy

@article{karmella2026a,
  title = {Integrating Technologies for Synthetic, Systems, and Spatial Approaches in Cancer Research},
  year = {2026},
  journal = {ACS Synthetic Biology},
  author = {Haynes, Karmella A. and Adebowale, Kolade and Akpa, Belinda S. and Bader, Joel S. and Bansal, Trisha and Breunig, J. and Brosh, Ran and Bugaj, Lukasz J. and Burslem, G. and Chadha, Awalpreet S. and Das, Moumita and Deans, Tara L. and DeForest, Cole A. and Dooling, L. and Gartner, Zev J. and Heiser, Laura M. and Hughes, Alex J. and Kemp, Melissa L. and Korolev, K. and Lin, Chun-Ru and Lionnet, T. and Lu, Xin and McGuigan, A. and Mirzaei, H. and Nirmal, A. J. and di Magliano, Marina Pasca and Poulopoulos, A. and Rai, Kunal and Reyes, José and Segal, Dagan and Sewell-Loftin, M. and Shmeleva, E. and Stevens, Adam and Subramanian, S. and Tlsty, T. and Totonchy, J. and Vlahos, Alexander E. and Wang, Pei and Zervantonakis, Ioannis K. and Zhao, Yan-Ding and Chuang, Jeffrey H.}
}

Abstract

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.