Promising research at The Hormel Institute focused on effectively attacking a form of prostate cancer resistant to chemotherapy is being recognized nationally by the U.S. Department of Defense.

Dr. Mohammad Saleem, leader of the Molecular Chemoprevention and Therapeutics research section at The Hormel Institute, University of Minnesota, had work featured as one of three prostate cancer research projects included in the Department of Defense’s “2014 Research Highlights” section.

Saleem, an assistant professor who brought his research to The Hormel Institute four years ago from the University of Wisconsin, is the recipient of a New Investigator Award from the Department of Defense Prostate Cancer Research Program. Saleem and his team have provided evidence that a gene known as BMI1 plays a crucial role in determining the fate of tumors treated with chemotherapy.