Allen Orville
About Allen Orville
Allen Orville serves as the Group Leader and Principal Scientist at the European XFEL Hub at Diamond, where he focuses on oxygen activation, enzyme reactions, and structural biology. His extensive background includes roles at prominent institutions such as the Georgia Institute of Technology and Brookhaven National Laboratory.
Work at Diamond Light Source
Allen Orville serves as Group Leader and Principal Scientist at the European XFEL Hub at Diamond Light Source. He has been in this role since 2015, contributing to the advancement of time-resolved serial structural biology experiments. His responsibilities include sample preparation, delivery, data collection, and processing at the XFEL Hub. He focuses on utilizing rapidly evolving XFEL methods that complement synchrotron and cryo-EM sources. Orville also leads a user access program for SFX/SPB and hard X-ray FEL facilities globally, enhancing collaboration within the structural biology community.
Education and Expertise
Allen Orville obtained his Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Molecular Biology from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities, where he studied from 1992 to 1997. He also studied at the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. His educational background provides a strong foundation for his research interests, which include enzyme reaction mechanisms and protein crystallography. Orville's expertise extends to serial micro-crystallography and the development of hardware and software for Serial Femtosecond Crystallography (SFX).
Background
Before joining Diamond Light Source, Allen Orville held various academic and research positions. He worked as an Assistant Professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology from 2000 to 2006. Prior to that, he served as a Biochemist at the University of Minnesota from 1984 to 1992 and as a Biophysicist at Brookhaven National Laboratory from 2006 to 2015. He also completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at the University of Oregon from 1997 to 2000. This diverse background has shaped his current research focus.
Research Interests
Allen Orville's research interests encompass oxygen activation and reactivity in solution and low-temperature crystals. He investigates systems biology at the microbe-plant interface, particularly focusing on symbiotic nitrogen fixation by rhizobia within root nodules of leguminous plants. His work employs advanced techniques such as single-crystal electronic absorption and resonance Raman spectroscopies, correlated with x-ray crystallography. Orville is also involved in developing a dual instrument at the European XFEL for imaging macromolecules, furthering the field of structural biology.