Frederick Alt wants to understand mechanisms that maintain genomic stability in mammalian cells. Alt and his team research programmed genetic recombination and hypermutation processes required for the generation of the immensely diverse antibody repertoires of immune cells known as B lymphocytes. The team’s current focus is the active regulation of these processes within chromatin across antibody gene loci. They also study mechanisms that promote and prevent genetic translocations that can lead to lymphoid and other cancers. The team has developed new high throughput genomics and animal modeling approaches for use with tools and techniques of molecular genetics, cell biology, and biochemistry.
Scientists have created a new and efficient way to study mutations found in schizophrenia, autism, and brain cancer. HHMI researchers have identified 27 genes in brain stem cells that are prone to a type of DNA damage called double-strand breaks.