With athletes from all around the world hoping to gain competitive advantages in the Olympics, doping scandals have impacted the Games for decades. A Massachusetts company is trying to use new technology to keep the playing field level.
Epicore Biosystems in Cambridge is no stranger to woring with athletes, partnering with Gatorade on a wearable patch that monitors hydration.
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The company is modifying that technology to detect illicit substances.
Epicore is working with the United States Anti-Doping Agency to develop a new way to test athletes for performance-enhancing drugs.
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"We're able to now have miniaturized devices that you could wear remotely and not be in the laboratory setting," said Roozbeh Ghaffari, CEO and cofounder of Epicore Biosystems.
"We're using discovery patches to collect sweat from athletes," said cofounder AJ Aranyosi.
"What we found is that sweat could be a much more effective, comfortable, and less invasive biofluid target than the existing approaches that we have with blood and urine," Ghaffari explained.
Doping has long been a problem at the Olympic Games. In 1988, Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson, who tested positive for an anabolic steroid, had his gold medal taken away and given to American Carl Lewis. One of Team USA's biggest track stars, Marion Jones, lost all five of her medals from the 2000 Sydney Games after lying about using performance-enhancing drugs. And most recently, Russian athletes were banned from competing under their country's flag after the discovery of a state-sponsored doping scheme during the 2014 Sochi Games.
More on doping and the Olympics
Those are just three of many examples that led to increased anti-doping testing.
While the patches can tell if an athlete is cheating, they can also be beneficial to their training.
"What we're able to do is collect small quantities of sweat — while measuring other biomarkers, such as your skin temperature, your motion, your activity — and we're able to look at all of that data and determine whether or not you need to rehydrate," Ghaffari said. "We can even tell whether or not you're physically starting to feel fatigue."
Epicore says its technology can also be used by everyday people who work in hot climates, and that the patches can help workers better understand their hydration needs while on the job.
