Frederick Alt

Frederick Alt is the Charles A. Janeway Professor of Pediatrics and Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School, with affiliations at Boston Children's Hospital and Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He received his PhD from Stanford University and completed postdoctoral work at MIT. His research focuses on molecular mechanisms of genomic instability, DNA repair, and immune system recombination processes.

Research interests include:

• Gene amplification in cancer cells
• DNA double-strand break repair (NHEJ pathway)
• V(D)J recombination in lymphocytes
• Chromatin loop extrusion mechanisms
• HIV vaccine development using humanized mouse models

His publication record demonstrates consistent focus on chromatin dynamics, antibody diversification, and genomic stability in immune cells, with recent work emphasizing 3D genome organization and vaccine design.

Major scientific honors include:

• Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize (2023)
• American Association for Cancer Research Lifetime Achievement Award (2021)
• Membership in National Academy of Sciences (1994) and National Academy of Medicine (2011)
• William B. Coley Award for Distinguished Research in Basic Immunology (2009)

He has mentored over 150 trainees and leads a research laboratory investigating fundamental mechanisms of immune recombination and genome stability.