Extending X-ray Crystallography to Allow Structure Retrieval from Highly Disordered Crystals and Nanocrystals

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X-ray crystallography is one of the most important tools in structural biology, responsible for over 80 per cent of the protein structures solved today. Obtaining X-ray diffraction data however is critically dependent on having large, high quality crystals. Many proteins, particularly membrane proteins, only form nanocrystals or crystals of poor quality which prevents their structure being solved. This project aims to combine ideas from X-ray coherent diffraction imaging and X-ray crystallography to develop a method that can be used for structure retrieval from nanocrystals or crystals which are highly disordered. A particular emphasis will be placed on solving the structure of membrane proteins which are of special importance in drug development.