Cryo-Electron Tomography Patents: Who Leads, Where the Gaps Are 2026
Cryo-Electron Tomography Patents: Concentration at the Top, Gaps Below It
Top-heavy from the start. the leading assignee alone accounts for 22 of 82 records, and the top 5 combined hold 62.2% of all 82 records in scope. Recorded filings begin at 1 in 2017, climb to a peak of 11 in 2020, and taper toward 2026 (0, but the year is only partially published as of the 2026-07-31 cut-off). Because publication typically lags filing by around 18 months, the last one to two years understate true filing activity; treat the apparent decline after 2020 with that caveat rather than as a confirmed slowdown.
- 1RGT UNIV OF CALIFORNIA22
- 2FEI CO13
- 3UNIVERSITY OF BAYREUTH6
- 4EURO LAB FUER MOLEKULARBIOLOGIE EMBL5
- 5THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE LELAND STANFORD JUNIOR UNIV5
See the full cryo-electron tomography analysis in Eureka
- The complete ranking, not just the top five
- Every IPC branch with its share of the corpus
- The most-cited records, and where claim space is still thin
Common questions about cryo-electron tomography patents
Who are the leading patent holders in cryo-electron tomography?
The assignee ranking in this dataset covers 45 companies and institutions, counted by patent family, out of 82 total records in scope. One assignee leads with 22 records, well ahead of fifth place at 5 and tenth place at 3, and the top 5 combined hold 62.2% of all 82 records. That pattern points to a small group of research universities and at least one electron-microscope instrument maker driving most of the filing activity, with a long tail of single- and double-digit filers behind them.
Is cryo-electron tomography patent filing growing or slowing down?
Recorded filings rose to a peak of 11 in 2020 and have not matched that level in any complete year since, based on the 2017-2026 trend in this dataset. However, publication typically lags actual filing by around 18 months, so the apparent decline in the most recent one to two years is at least partly a reporting artefact rather than a confirmed drop in inventive activity. A reliable read on the post-2020 trend will only be possible once those years are fully published.
What technology areas do cryo-electron tomography patents cover?
The 82 records in scope span eight overlapping IPC subclasses: G01N (material analysis and testing) at 29.3%, H01J (electron and discharge tubes) at 25.6%, G06T (image data processing) at 23.2%, C07K (peptides and proteins) at 22.0%, A61B (diagnosis and surgery) at 19.5%, A61K (medicinal preparations) at 18.3%, G06K (data recognition) at 15.9%, and C12N (microorganisms and genetic engineering) at 14.6%. Because a record can carry multiple IPC codes, these percentages add up to more than 100%, reflecting genuine overlap between imaging hardware, computational reconstruction and biological-application claims rather than a clean split of the field.
Disclaimer. This analysis is based on Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent records and is provided for general information and reference only. Patent data carries inherent limitations — recent filings are under-counted because of publication lag, counts may be on a record or family basis, classification and applicant-name data may contain errors or duplicates, and the underlying search query defines the scope shown — so the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing here is an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Verify independently and review with qualified patent and legal professionals before acting on it.
Method: Filing trend and technology composition. Derived from a Patsnap search on Cryo-Electron Tomography covering 2015–2026, data cut-off 2026-07-31. Counts reflect published records only and shift as new filings publish. Every share divides by all records in scope. Data: Patsnap Eureka. See the full landscape report.