Frederick W. Alt

Dr. Frederick W. Alt is the Director Emeritus of the Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine at Boston Children's Hospital and a Principal Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. He holds the Charles A. Janeway Professorship of Pediatrics and Genetics at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Alt's research spans genomic stability, immune system development, and neurological mechanisms.

• PhD in Biology from Stanford University (1977)
• Postdoctoral work at MIT with David Baltimore

His work focuses on V(D)J recombination, class switch recombination, and chromatin loop extrusion in lymphocytes, alongside genomic instability in neural progenitor cells. He has pioneered techniques like HTGTS and LAM-HTGTS for DNA break analysis.

Recent publications highlight chromatin loop extrusion in antibody gene rearrangement (2019-2024), with applications in HIV vaccine development and neurodevelopmental disorders. His scientific accolades include the Paul Ehrlich Prize (2023), William E. Paul Memorial Award (2023), and lifetime achievement awards from AACR (2021) and AAI (2007).

• Mentored over 150 students/fellows, many now leaders in immunology/genetics
• Established the Frederick W. Alt Award (2005) for immunology discoveries