Frederick Alt

{{short description|American geneticist}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2022}} {{Infobox scientist | name = | image =  | birth_date =  | birth_place = | death_date =  | death_place = | death_cause = | citizenship = | nationality = | fields = | workplaces = {{plainlist| * Harvard Medical School * Columbia University * Boston Children's Hospital }} | education = {{plainlist| * Brandeis University * Stanford University }} | doctoral_advisor = Robert Schimke | academic_advisors = David Baltimore | known_for = | awards = | spouse =  | children = J. Kenji López-Alt | other_names = Fred Alt | alt = Frederick Alt | doctoral_students = Karen M. Frank }} '''Frederick W. Alt''' is an American geneticist. He is a member of the immunology section of the National Academy of Sciences and a Charles A. Janeway Professor of Pediatrics, and Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School.<ref name="df">{{cite web |title=Frederick W. Alt, PhD - DF/HCC |url=https://www.dfhcc.harvard.edu/insider/member-detail/member/frederick-w-alt-phd/ |website=Dana-Farber / Harvard Cancer Center |access-date=13 January 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231008202644/https://www.dfhcc.harvard.edu/insider/member-detail/member/frederick-w-alt-phd/ |archive-date=8 October 2023}}</ref> He is the Director of the Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the Boston Children's Hospital.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://phys.org/news/2019-09-loops-dna-packaging-diverse-antibodies.html|title=How new loops in DNA packaging help us make diverse antibodies|website=phys.org|language=en-us|access-date=2019-11-14}}</ref> He has been a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator since 1987.

== Career == Alt completed his undergraduate studies at Brandeis University, graduating in 1971.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.brandeis.edu/now/2014/october/alt-rosenstiel-award%20.html|title=Pioneering geneticist Frederick Alt '71 wins 44th Rosenstiel Award|website=BrandeisNOW|language=en|access-date=2019-11-14}}</ref> He then went on to earn a Ph.D. in Biology from Stanford University in 1977 while under the research direction of Robert Schimke. He performed his postdoctoral work in David Baltimore's laboratory at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Alt Laboratory |url=https://www.childrenshospital.org/research/labs/alt-laboratory-research |access-date=2022-12-29 |website=www.childrenshospital.org}}</ref> From 1982 to 1991 he was on the faculty at Columbia University and then moved to Harvard Medical School.<ref name="ch">{{Cite web |url=http://www.idi.harvard.edu/investigators_research/investigator/alt_lab/ |title=Children's Hospital bio |access-date=2011-09-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180120101957/http://www.idi.harvard.edu/investigators_research/investigator/alt_lab |archive-date=2018-01-20 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Alt's research interest is in maintenance of genome stability in cells of the mammalian immunological system, particularly antigen receptor variable region gene assembly in developing B and T lymphocytes, immunoglobulin heavy chain class switch recombination (CSR), and somatic hypermutation in activated mature B lymphocytes.<ref name="df" />

== Personal life == Alt is the son-in-law of organic chemist Koji Nakanishi, former Centennial Professor of Chemistry and chair of the Chemistry Department at Columbia University.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://napost.com/2022/j-kenji_feature_0923/ |title=J. Kenji López-Alt: Seattle's Famous Japanese American Cooking Star |date=2022-09-23 |publisher=The North American Post |access-date=2022-12-09 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221006205242/https://napost.com/2022/j-kenji_feature_0923/ |archive-date=2022-10-06}}</ref>

Alt is also the father of the chef and food writer J. Kenji López-Alt.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.sacbee.com/food-drink/article49010860.html|title=Science becomes delicious in 'The Food Lab'|last=Robertson|first=Blair Anthony|date=2015|website=The Sacramento Bee|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151216095413/http://www.sacbee.com/food-drink/article49010860.html|archive-date=2015-12-16|access-date=2019-11-13|quote=His father, Frederick Alt, is a professor at Harvard Medical School}}</ref>

==Awards, memberships and honors== He has received many awards, this is a select list:

* Clowes Memorial Award from the American Association for Cancer Research * Rabbi Shai Shacknai Prize from The Hebrew University * Leukemia & Lymphoma Society de Villiers International Achievement Award * Irvington Institute Immunology Award * National Cancer Institute Alfred K. Knudson Award for pioneering contributions that have revolutionized the field of Cancer Genetics * AAI-Huang Meritorious Career Award, American Association of Immunologists * Excellence in Mentoring Award, American Association of Immunologists. * 2004 – Pasarow Foundation Prize for Extraordinary Achievement in Cancer Research * 2007 – Novartis Prize for Basic Immunology for his discoveries on B cell development and antigen responses<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.novartisimmunologyprizes.com/laureates/|title=Laureates|last=|first=|date=2018-08-29|website=Novartis Prizes for Immunology|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180829175211/http://www.novartisimmunologyprizes.com/laureates/|archive-date=2018-08-29|access-date=2019-11-14}}</ref> * 2009 – William B. Coley Award for New Discoveries in Immunology from the Cancer Research Institute<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cancerresearch.org/news/2009/cri-announces-winner-of-2009-frederick-alt-award|title=CRI Announces Winner of 2009 Frederick Alt Award for New Discoveries in Immunology|website=Cancer Research Institute|date=October 6, 2009 |language=en|access-date=2019-11-14}}</ref> * 2014 – 44th annual Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award for Distinguished Work in Basic Medical Research<ref name=":0" /> * 2015 – Szent-Györgyi Prize for Progress in Cancer Research, from the National Foundation for Cancer Research (NFCR)<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Scully|first1=Peter|last2=Zhao|first2=Jie|last3=Ba|first3=Sujuan|date=2016-02-03|title=Frederick W. Alt received the 2015 Szent-Györgi Prize for Progress in Cancer Research|journal=Chinese Journal of Cancer|volume=35|article-number=17|doi=10.1186/s40880-015-0075-x|issn=1000-467X|pmc=4741029|pmid=26843073 |doi-access=free }}</ref> * 2019 – BioLegend Herzenberg Award, for "exemplary research contributions to the field of B cell biology", American Association of Immunologists.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.aai.org/Awards/Career/AAI-Herzenberg-Award|title=AAI-BioLegend Herzenberg Award|last=|first=|date=|website=The American Association of Immunologists, Inc. (AAI)|access-date=}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.immunology2019.org/awards/aai-career-awards/|title=AAI Career Awards|last=|first=|date=|website=Immunology 2019|language=en-US|access-date=2019-11-14}}</ref> * 2023 – Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize<ref>[https://www.uni-frankfurt.de/124912621/2023_Alt_Schatz Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize 2023]</ref>

The Cancer Research Institute of New York gives an annual prize in his honor, the Frederick W. Alt Award for New Discoveries in Immunology.

Alt is a member of:

*U.S. National Academy of Sciences *American Academy of Arts and Sciences *American Academy of Microbiology

==References== {{Reflist|30em}}

==External links== *[https://genetics.hms.harvard.edu/faculty-staff/frederick-w-alt Official page at Harvard]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alt, Frederick}} Category:American geneticists Category:Harvard Medical School faculty Category:Living people Category:Brandeis University alumni Category:Stanford University School of Humanities and Sciences alumni Category:Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Category:Howard Hughes Medical Investigators Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Fellows of the American Academy of Microbiology Category:Searle Scholars Program recipients Category:Members of the National Academy of Medicine