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New research has been unveiled by US researchers who claim that the latest method for detecting performance-enhancing drugs in athletes’ samples is 1,000 times more effective than current testing.
Current tests use mass spectrometry, a traditional technique to pass electrons through urine samples, turning atoms into charged particles, which travel through the spectrometer before being weighed by a magnetic field.
Steroids and other drugs with known weights can be detected at this point, but some by-products of doping substances can be too small to provide a strong enough signal.
Now chemists in Arlington, Texas, say they have developed a method, called Paired Ion Electrospray Ionisation (PIESI), which builds on the traditional techniques but uses a chemical agent to bind small numbers of particles, allowing them to be weighed and detected.
According to the scientists, the new system uses existing equipment, making it inexpensive to implement, and it could extend the time frame within which athletes using banned substances can be caught, eliminating a commonly-used loophole, where athletes learn to work with the possible detection timeframes to avoid testing positive.
"It makes them much more detectable," Research team leader Dr Daniel Armstrong told BBC News.
"We're talking about parts per trillion, sub-parts per trillion - and the amazing thing is that it is so simple.
“We may be able to detect a steroid or something that's long-lived a couple of years after it was taken."
The research will now be presented to other scientists for independent reviews, but no response has yet been registered from the World Anti-Doping Agency or the International Olympic Committee.
Current tests use mass spectrometry, a traditional technique to pass electrons through urine samples, turning atoms into charged particles, which travel through the spectrometer before being weighed by a magnetic field.
Steroids and other drugs with known weights can be detected at this point, but some by-products of doping substances can be too small to provide a strong enough signal.
Now chemists in Arlington, Texas, say they have developed a method, called Paired Ion Electrospray Ionisation (PIESI), which builds on the traditional techniques but uses a chemical agent to bind small numbers of particles, allowing them to be weighed and detected.
According to the scientists, the new system uses existing equipment, making it inexpensive to implement, and it could extend the time frame within which athletes using banned substances can be caught, eliminating a commonly-used loophole, where athletes learn to work with the possible detection timeframes to avoid testing positive.
"It makes them much more detectable," Research team leader Dr Daniel Armstrong told BBC News.
"We're talking about parts per trillion, sub-parts per trillion - and the amazing thing is that it is so simple.
“We may be able to detect a steroid or something that's long-lived a couple of years after it was taken."
The research will now be presented to other scientists for independent reviews, but no response has yet been registered from the World Anti-Doping Agency or the International Olympic Committee.
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