On Mar. 13, 2019, Dr. Liang Lie of Mason Cancer Center’s Hormel Institute received a $100,000 two year research grant from the Prevent Cancer Foundation to focus on skin cancer prevention.

Skin cancer is by far the most common type of cancer, with numbers increasing each year. Dr. Liu’s research project planned to develop a test to help determine skin cancer risk for sunburn patients. With this research, Dr. Liu aimed to identify people at high risk of skin cancer, and provide more understanding of how to prevent and control cancer from progressing.

The Hormel Institute is a world recognized leader in skin cancer research, with many research studies published in leading cancer research journals and a dermatology clinic currently in development on the east end of the building.

The Hormel Institute’s standing as a leader in skin cancer research is part of what brought Dr. Liang Liu to The Hormel Institute. Dr. Liu is the most recent section leader to join The Hormel Institute, arriving in January 2019. Dr. Liu was previously at Columbia University, an Ivy League university in New York City. The Hormel Institute is regularly hiring new staff and faculty to fill the labs built in the last expansion.

The Hormel Institute, University of Minnesota is a leading cancer research department of UMN and part of the Masonic Cancer Center, an NCI Designated Comprehensive Cancer Center. Collaborative research partners with Mayo Clinic, Zhengzhou University, MD Anderson, Columbia University, University of Arizona and more renowned centers worldwide, The Hormel Institute tripled in size in 2008 and again doubled in size in 2016. Currently the faculty and staff are comprised of 130 leading cancer research scientists and 14 cancer research sections. Over the next few years, The Hormel Institute UMN will add another 130 new faculty and staff jobs as part of its expansion as it continues to perform world-class research in the quest to prevent and control cancer.