Frederick W. Alt, one of the world’s leaders in the genetics of immunology, will be the first guest lecturer of the Sara L. Hicks and Fred W. Hicks IV Honors Speakers Series at Coastal Carolina University. Alt’s lecture is titled “Interplay Between Cellular Gatekeeper and Caretaker Proteins in Normal Development and in Suppression of Genomic Instability and Cancer.” The event will be held Thursday, April 5 at 7:30 p.m. in Coastal’s Wall Auditorium. A reception will follow the presentation which is free and open to the public.

Alt is the Charles A. Janeway professor of genetics and pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital, Boston, and Harvard Medical School. He is also senior investigator at the Center for Blood Research at Harvard Medical School and a member of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

Alt has served on numerous review panels and advisory boards for such organizations as the National Cancer Institute, the National Science Foundation, and the National Institutes of Health. He is on the editorial board of 11 prestigious journals including Science, Molecular and Cellular Biology and Developmental Immunology. He has published more than 300 articles.

Alt earned a bachelor’s degree in biology (magna cum laude) from Brandeis University in 1971 and a Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1977.

The Sara L. Hicks and Fred W. Hicks IV Honors Speakers Series was established in 2000 with a grant from the Fred W. Hicks III Trust. Fred W. Hicks III, a resident of Savannah, Ga., is Distinguished Professor Emeritus in Coastal’s Department of History and a former Coastal Chancellor. He named the series in honor of his children. Sara L. Hicks is a graduate of Wake Forest University and lives in New York City where she is a graphic designer. Fred W. Hicks IV is a graduate of the University of Florida and lives in California where he is the manager of Strategic Initiatives for the Sitesmith Corporation.

The event is sponsored jointly by Coastal’s Honors Program and the South Carolina Academy of Science.

For more information, contact Coastal’s Honors Program at 349- 2088.