Cancer immunotherapy, which harnesses the body’s own immune system to attack tumor cells, holds great potential. However, this therapy is currently hampered by very high costs, long and involved preparation processes, and frequent inefficacy against solid tumors. The University of Missouri’s Synthetic Programmable bacteria for Immune-directed Killing in tumor Environments (SPIKEs) project aims to develop a new class of living cancer immunotherapy that that can effectively address these limitations. The SPIKEs platform utilizes genetically programmable bacteria designed to sense tumor-associated metabolites as an exquisitely precise homing mechanism and then deliver therapeutic payloads that activate immune-directed killing of solid tumor cells without the need for the long and costly processes currently used. Bacterial therapeutics carrying programmable genetic circuitry that allows safe tissue targeting, on-demand activation and clearance, and multiple therapeutic functions – including immune cell recruitment, activation, and targeting – represent an innovative, scalable, cost-effective, and accessible treatment modality for cancer.