Overview
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the National Institute for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) jointly launched the Synthetic Biology and Cancer Program in 2021 to catalyze innovative applications of synthetic biology in cancer research. The program was designed to accelerate technology development and foster transdisciplinary partnerships to advance mechanistic understanding of cancer and open new avenues for cancer prevention, detection, and treatment.
Through the funding opportunity Collaborative Approaches to Engineer Biology for Cancer Applications (RFA-CA-20-054), the program supports six collaborative research awards. These projects address critical challenges across colorectal, pancreatic, ovarian, and lung cancers. Leveraging cutting-edge synthetic biology tools, the teams are developing novel strategies to detect tumors and metastases at earlier stages, overcome therapeutic resistance, and improve the precision, efficacy, and safety of immunotherapies.
After five years of progress, the funded teams will share their findings with the broader research community. The Synthetic Biology and Cancer: Progress and Promise Webinar Series will highlight key technical advances, showcase translational insights, and explore future directions at the intersection of synthetic biology and cancer research. Across the series, sessions will be framed by perspectives on the underlying cancer research challenges, such as early detection, immune evasion, tumor heterogeneity, and therapeutic resistance, and how emerging approaches are beginning to address these persistent barriers.
The webinar series will be held monthly from June to November 2026 (second Thursday, 3-4 pm ET). Visit the Upcoming Webinars tab to learn more about the participating research teams and their innovative projects.