Christian Orr

Laser Shaping of Samples

Due to elevated levels of absorption of X-rays by samples, solvent and mounts when performing long wavelength diffraction experiments, the ideal sample is crystal with no surrounding material. Christian is currently working on developing an in-house sample shaping system using lasers which will allow users to get the most anomalous signal from samples by ablating everything but crystalline material. Shaping crystals into spheres further increases the measurable signal as this removes the need for absorption correction which is highly dependent on sample shape. This system also allows for fast prototyping of sample mounts and many other applications. 

Design of mAb Therapeutics

Following on from work during his PhD, Christian collaborates with groups in Southampton working on epitope mapping of mAbs to tailor drug activity and identification of disulphide bonding patterns in the hinge region, which play a role in agonism. I23 is well suited to pinpointing these disulphides which allows collaborators to confirm their location and generate potential mutations to further explore the effect of disulphide bridges on drug efficacy.

Machine Learning in Structural Biology

Christian is currently exploring how machine learning can be used in beamline development and data processing. Areas of focus include the sample environment inside the vacuum end station and identification of potential substructure solutions for difficult to phase structures.