A new test to detect banned performance-enhancing drugs "should be ready before the 2020 Olympics in potentially the biggest breakthrough in the battle against doping for a generation," according to Martyn Ziegler of the LONDON TIMES. The test can identify gene markers in blood that are produced "when an athlete takes banned drugs and which can be spotted weeks after the substance has been taken." The IOC and WADA awarded £540,000 ($698,274) in funding to a research group at the University of Brighton to "develop a testing system." The researchers said that the next step "will be to identify the same markers in saliva." A similar method is being trialed in English rugby this season. The new test will identify a "tell-tale genetic signature" -- a genetic response called microRNAs that are produced when an athlete takes drugs such as EPO or steroids. Research has shown that "hundreds of these genetic markers are produced and some can be identified several weeks -- and even months -- after the drug has been taken." Significantly, the EPO markers are "different to the markers produced when an athlete trains at altitude." Research group head Yannis Pitsiladis said that it was "easier to monitor the markers in blood because saliva was contaminated by food or bacteria, but that developing a saliva test would be the next step." He said, "There is no point looking for the drug, we need to look at what is left behind. It can detect the use of the drug after it has left the system" (LONDON TIMES, 8/31).
