Counting particles in cryo-electron microscopy may result in incorrect population estimates

Luke Evans; Lars Dingeldein; Roberto Covino; Marc Aurèle Gilles; Erik Thiede; Pilar Cossio

doi:10.1038/s42003-026-09859-6

Counting particles in cryo-electron microscopy may result in incorrect population estimates

Luke Evans
, Lars Dingeldein
, Roberto Covino
, Marc Aurèle Gilles
, Erik Thiede
, Pilar Cossio

Mathematics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Comment/debate › peer-review

Abstract

Counting particles is a common practice in estimating populations from cryo-electron microscopy data. Here, it is shown that counting particles is not robust to noise, whereas statistically rigorous population-estimation methods are more resilient and hold promise for future development.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	421
Journal	Communications Biology
Volume	9
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-026-09859-6
State	Published - Dec 2026

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Medicine (miscellaneous)
General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences

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10.1038/s42003-026-09859-6

Cite this

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title = "Counting particles in cryo-electron microscopy may result in incorrect population estimates",

abstract = "Counting particles is a common practice in estimating populations from cryo-electron microscopy data. Here, it is shown that counting particles is not robust to noise, whereas statistically rigorous population-estimation methods are more resilient and hold promise for future development.",

author = "Luke Evans and Lars Dingeldein and Roberto Covino and Gilles, \{Marc Aur{\`e}le\} and Erik Thiede and Pilar Cossio",

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AU - Evans, Luke

AU - Dingeldein, Lars

AU - Covino, Roberto

AU - Gilles, Marc Aurèle

AU - Thiede, Erik

AU - Cossio, Pilar

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2026.

PY - 2026/12

Y1 - 2026/12

N2 - Counting particles is a common practice in estimating populations from cryo-electron microscopy data. Here, it is shown that counting particles is not robust to noise, whereas statistically rigorous population-estimation methods are more resilient and hold promise for future development.

AB - Counting particles is a common practice in estimating populations from cryo-electron microscopy data. Here, it is shown that counting particles is not robust to noise, whereas statistically rigorous population-estimation methods are more resilient and hold promise for future development.

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UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105034365537#tab=citedBy

U2 - 10.1038/s42003-026-09859-6

DO - 10.1038/s42003-026-09859-6

M3 - Comment/debate

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AN - SCOPUS:105034365537

SN - 2399-3642

VL - 9

JO - Communications Biology

JF - Communications Biology

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Counting particles in cryo-electron microscopy may result in incorrect population estimates

Abstract

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

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