Identification and characterization of transcriptional markers diagnostic of autologous blood doping

Project Title: Identification and characterization of transcriptional markers diagnostic of autologous blood doping

Researcher: J. Rupert

Institution: University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Year accepted: 2007

Summary: The project has three phases:

1) identification of transcripts in whole and leukodepleted blood that represent genes that are activated or up-regulated in blood cells in response to post-withdrawal processing and/or short-term storage;

2) use of simulated autologous blood doping to determine if these transcripts could be detected in a “doped” athlete; and

3) characterization of the inter- and intra-individual variation of the transcripts shown to have potential test utility under a variety of conditions experienced by athletes (e.g. physical exertion, hypoxia/altitude, time of day, and time in menstrual cycle).