Which institutions should you be paying attention to in cancer research?
5
Min Read
In this blog:
- Which institutions are citing the most antibodies, proteins and ELISA Kits in cancer research?
- Which institutions are ones to watch, increasing their reagent use?
- Download data on the top 20 institutions for each reagent type
CiteAb collects reagent usage data from the scientific literature, powering a reagent and image search engine for researchers, and data services for suppliers, pharma and biotech companies and investors.
Cancer research is one of the largest and fastest-moving fields in the life sciences. Understanding where experimental activity is concentrated is critical in this space.
With AACR around the corner, we’ve pulled five years of CiteAb citation data, mapping antibody, protein and ELISA kit citations across cancer research publications worldwide. Reagent citations are a direct marker of past product use, and a leading indicator of future purchasing.
- For suppliers refining sales & marketing targeting, or identifying areas of opportunity, the data below offers a clear window into where you should be looking.
- For researchers, see if your institution ranks and spot new collaboration opportunities with top organisations.
The Big Picture: Top Cancer Research Institutions by Reagent Citations
At the headline level, we discovered that Chinese institutions are generating a large concentration of reagent citations in cancer research globally.
Interestingly, the story becomes differentiated when we look more closely at how institutions are citing different reagent types:
- Chinese institutions dominate in the antibody space
- The protein market saw US institutions feature more strongly in the top 50
- The ELISA Kit market is the most geographically diverse, with institutions from 6 countries in the top 50: China, the US, Germany, South Korea, Sweden and Egypt.
Below we drill down into each reagent type for specific insights into the leading institutions.
Spotlight on Antibody Use in Cancer Research
Antibodies are essential tools in cancer research; supporting protein expression profiling, biomarker validation, and much more.
The institutions citing the most antibodies are certainly ones to watch for suppliers active in this area. The top 10 institutions were as follows:
- Sun Yat-sen University – China
- Shanghai Jiao Tong University – China
- Fudan University – China
- Huazhong University of Science and Technology – China
- Zhejiang University – China
- Nanjing Medical University – China
- Central South University – China
- University of Texas – US
- Shandong University – China
- Zhengzhou University – China
These rankings reflect deep research programmes and high-volume antibody needs.
Of the top five institutions, we noted that three of them were seeing impressive upward growth trajectories: Sun Yat-sen University (China), Zhejiang University (China) and Fudan University (China).
Sun Yat-sen University stands out among this group, holding the highest citation count and strongest growth. Supporting this, they ranked as the 4th most cited institution in cancer research in the Nature index between 2029-2024. [1,2]
Interestingly, in our previous analysis into the top institutions for Genetics Research, we found that both Zhejiang and Sun Yat-sen University were seeing impressive upward trajectories there. Their growing activity across two research key areas marks them as ones to watch.
Geographic Trends: Where in the World Is Cancer Research Growing?
For suppliers thinking about conference strategy, distributor partnerships, or regional marketing investment, the broader geographic picture is essential context.
The geography of the top 50 institutions for cancer research antibody use spans North America, Europe, and Asia. However, the distribution is far from even.
Overall, a striking number of the top 50 institutions were from China – 35 of the top 50.
Other regions that featured were the US and South Korea.
The US saw two institutions in the top 20. From South Korea, Yonsei University placed just outside the top 50, with growth last year that could indicate a move into the top in the future.
Remember, you can download the full list of the top 20 institutions freely at the bottom of this blog!
Which institutions are gaining ground in cancer research?
Overall, we found that most Universities in the top 50 were not specialised institutions. This goes to demonstrate that broader institutes still have very strong cancer research programmes.
When we looked outside of the top 50 and outside of China, we noticed several institutions that may be ones to watch, and a few more focused institutes featuring:
- The University of Hong Kong has been seeing a broadly upward trajectory and ranks at number 75.
- St Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital ranked at number 84. This institute combines both clinical treatment and basic science. [2]
- The Netherlands Cancer Institute features at number 96
Interestingly, we saw more specialist institutions crop up in the top 100 when looking at institutions in Europe and the US.
Beyond Antibodies: How Reagent Type Changes the Picture
When we look at ELISA kit and protein reagent usage across cancer research, we discovered further insights to help inform strategy.
ELISA Kits
The ELISA Kit dataset broadly mirrors the antibody rankings at the top – but the wider picture is noticeably more spread out.
Institutions from 6 countries featured in the top 50, making this the most geographically diverse of the three reagent types we analysed.
The top 10 leading institutions in this dataset were dominated by Chinese universities, similar to antibodies.
Sun Yat-sen University and Fudan University again saw very strong citation share growth here.
We noticed a few institutions outside of the top 10 which may be ones to watch in the ELISA Kit space:
- The University of Pennsylvania, seeing a strong upward growth trajectory
- Cairo University, ranking at number 32 with a large spike in citation count last year
Proteins
The protein market is where the geographic story shifts most dramatically. US institutions feature significantly more strongly here than with antibody or ELISA kit use.
Drilling down into the top 10, many similar Chinese Universities ranking highly in the antibody and ELISA kit market also featured, with Fudan University and Sun Yat-sen University also seeing overall positive growth trajectories here.
Institutions to watch for protein use include:
- Vanderbilt University, which saw a strong spike in 2024, followed by a plateau.
- Seoul National University, which had a significant increase in protein citations over the past year
Wrap-up
What this means for your product strategy
Specific reagent type insights have direct implications for how suppliers should segment their strategy.
An institution that ranks highly for antibody citations but not for proteins may represent a new opportunity, or a different targeting strategy.
Plus, those growing institutions are key to get relationships in place with and support growing research.
Download the data below
Below, you can download data covering the top 20 institutions for each reagent type, ranked by citation share in cancer research publications.
Perform your own analysis on this data, and do let us know what you’d like to see from us next!
A Note on Methodology
This analysis is based on CiteAb’s quantitative citation data, which identifies research reagents – including antibodies, proteins and ELISA kits – across open and closed access publications in cancer research. Data covers publications that we have classified as cancer research related.
Citations are collected using a combination of advanced text-mining tools and manual validation to ensure accuracy.
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References
- https://www.sysu.edu.cn/sysuen/info/1018/56281.htm
- https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01154-4
- https://www.nature.com/articles/d42473-025-00257-w
