Projets de recherche

This study aims to achieve that via a mixed-method study that includes a quantitative knowledge, attitude and perspective survey (KAP) of athletes from bodybuilding, cycling, weightlifting, athletics, aquatics and qualitative study involving interviewing past athletes that were sanctioned in the past in these sports. The data collected from the study will be analyzed and interpreted for future doping interventions within the country.

This study will examine the sport motivation, moral decision-making, and attitudes towards doping among secondary school athletes in East Africa. The specific objective will be to find out the possible associations between sport motivation, moral decision[1]making, and attitudes towards doping.

The project aims to aid AIU by investigating (non-) adherence to the World Anti[1]Doping Code (WADC) in Kenya and Ethiopia through a systematic consideration of the lived experience of athletes, athlete support personnel (ASP) and anti[1]doping/sporting organization staff. By amplifying African voices in track and field and road running, this project will offer unique insights into geographical regions that are under-served in anti-doping research.

The project aims to advance scientific knowledge and understanding about the role of sport-specific values in fostering moral attitudes and emotions towards doping, and accordingly inform values-based education practices. The project’s objective is to adapt the Values & Moral Attitudes Model.

The study will examine the role of coaches and parents in promoting anti–doping behaviors among the youth in grassroots sports, investigating knowledge, attitudes of this population, while also exploring predictive factors of doping that can be influenced by education programs.

A two-phase project examining athletes' experiences following an Adverse Analytical Finding and Anti-Doping Rule Violation. Phase one will use athlete researchers to interview sanctioned athletes. The results will inform phase two, a community based Participatory Research (CBPR) approach discuss how the relationship of sanctioned athletes to sport, clean sport and anti-doping is shaped and how rehabilitation and space for reparation can be incorporated into anti-doping.

Code: 22C04MP

The anti-asthmatic drug salbutamol is prohibited in sports due to its activity as beta-2-sympathomimetic. However, because of its valuable therapeutic use, inhalative administration that does not exceed 600 micrograms over 8 hours (1600 micrograms over 24 hours) is considered as non-prohibited, not even requiring a therapeutic use exception. A threshold for the urinary salbutamol (excreted unchanged or as glucuronide) is set in doping control samples for discrimination of therapeutic and non-therapeutic use, if not proven differently.

As salbutamol is also excreted as sulfoconjugate, drugs interfering with human sulfotransferase enzymes may result in an alteration of the metabolite profile and thereby in an increased concentration of non-sulfonated salbutamol. One of these drugs that is considered to interfere with salbutamol metabolism is the pain killer etoricoxib. An influence of a con-administration with inhaled salbutamol will therefore be studied in human volunteers. Urinary concentrations will be monitored and compared in a paired design to evaluate exceeding threshold levels. For future detection of etoricoxib as potentially confounding factor its detectability in urine will also be studied. As etoricoxib is reported to be excreted mainly oa oxidized metabolites (only minor amounts unchanged), its main metabolites will be targeted as well. Future studies may also evaluate the influence on the excretion of sulfoconjugates of other drugs and excedding threshold or reporting limits to support data interpretation in doping control.

Code: 22C06RV

Discrimination criteria between allowed and prohibited routes of administrations is needed for glucocorticoids (GC). Recent studies have demonstrated that the criterion of discrimination needs to be compound specific and, for that reason, since 2022, new and ompound-specific minimum reporting levels (MRLs) have been established for some GC for which data of administration studies were available. This project will be focused on beclomethasone (BOH), and the objective will be to define the best marker of discrimination between allowed and prohibited administrations, to establish the MRL, and to define the washout period after forbidden administrations.

BOH is administered as beclomethasone dipropionate (BDP). Clinical studies consiting of administration of BDP to healthy volunteers using single oral or repeated intranasal or repeated inhaled doses and collection of urine samples at different time periods will be perfomed. First, the metabolic profile of BDP in urine will be studied. The metabolites of BDP described up to now in urine are beclomethasone 17-monopropionate and BOH; the occurence of other urinary metabolites will be studied using LC-MS/MS methods. Second, a LC-MS/MS procedure to measure BDP and the most important urinary metabolites will be developed and validated. Third, BDP and metabolites will be measured in the urines collected after oral, intranasal and inhaled administrations. Finally, the urinary excretion profiles after the different administration routes will be compared and the best marker of discrimination between allowed and forbidden administrations will be proposed. The comparison will also led to establish the most suitable MRL and the washout period required after oral administration.

Code: 22C03MP

Dehydrochloromethyltestosterone (DHCMT) is an anabolic androgenic steroid, prohibited as doping in sports. It represents the active pharmaceutical ingredient of Oral Turinabol®. This drug was discontinued in 1994, but still, in athletes, adverse analytical findings are reported frequently, even lately at the 2022 Olympic Games. This project aims to investigate the excretion of the most relevant DHCMT metabolites after finishing a cycle of drug admnistrations (multiple dose admnistration for 4 weeks). Due to ethical concerns on this study desgin in humans, Goettingen mini-pigs will be used as a model. This model is well accepted in preclinical testing of pharmaceuticals and in toxicology. Within the project its suitability for anti-doping research will be also validated by comparison of the detectability of metabolites after a single dose administration of DHCMT with results after single dose administration in humans.

Code: 22B07CR

For the detection of prohibited peptides hormones according to WADA Probibited List 2022 [1] chapter S2, subchapters 2 (“Peptide hormones and their releasing factors”), 3 (“Growth factors and growth factor modulators”) and 4 (“Metabolic modulators”), mass spectrometric (MS) methods are used in combination with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Typically, two different strategies are applied for sample preparation: small peptides (molecular mass below ca. 2 kDa, e.g. GH-releasing peptides (GHRPs), TB-500) are enriched from urine by solid phase extraction (SPE).[2] Larger peptides (mass above ca. 2 kDa, e.g. growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH) and its analogues, IGF-1 and its analogues, MGFs, insulins) require pre-concentration (e.g. ultrafiltration) followed by immunoaffinity extraction (e.g. immunoprecipitation with antibody-coated magnetic beads).[3]Frequently, the extracted peptides are analyzed in two separate screening procedures using LC-MS methods.[2-3]

Many of the peptides misused for doping purposes have not yet been pharmaceutically approved and are available only on the black market. Recently, two new substances were found there: Myostatin inhibitory peptide 7 (not to be confused with myostatin propeptide) – it contains 23 amino acids (WRQNTRYSRIEAIKIQILSKLRL-NH2; monoisotopic mass: 2954.741 Da) and effectively inhibits myostatin,[4-5] and Kisspeptin-10, which consists of only 10 amino acids (YNWNSFGLRF-NH2; monoisotopic mass: 1301.631 Da) and is an effective LH secretagogue, which evokes rapid and potent increases of LH and testosterone secretion.[6-7] To include the two

compounds and their analogues in the current screening procedures for small and large peptides, (1) a multiplexed immunoprecipitation protocol will be developed for Myostatin inhibitory peptide 7 and analogues in order to detect it together with the other large peptides, and (2) an SPE method for Kisspeptin-10 and analogues for detection with the other small peptides. Subsequently, extracts will be analyzed by nano-HPLC and high resolution high accuracy mass spectrometry. Analogues of both peptides will be custom-synthesized and made available to other doping control laboratories.