m**e
发帖数: 857 | 1 Genetically modified athletes: Forget drugs. There are even suggestions some
Chinese athletes' genes are altered to make them stronger。
By John Naish
PUBLISHED: 19:28 EST, 31 July 2012
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2181873/Genetically-modified-athletes-Forget-drugs-There-suggestions-Chinese-athletes-genes-altered-make-stronger.html#ixzz22eomrirj
The controversy over Chinese swimmer Ye Shiwen’s astonishing gold medal
performance this week is no longer confined to just the suspicions of drug
abuse, which she emphatically denies.
It has raised concerns about another worrying — and infinitely more
sinister — threat to the world of honest competition: the genetic
enhancement of athletes.
John Leonard, the highly respected American director of the World Swimming
Coaches Association, described the 16-year-old’s world-record-breaking
performance as ‘suspicious’, ‘disturbing’ and ‘unbelievable’.
The record-breaking achievements of China's 16-yea-old Ye Shiwen in the
swimming pool have caused some to suggest she is taking performance
enhancing drugs
The record-breaking achievements of China's 16-year-old Ye Shiwen in the
Olympic swimming pool have caused some to suggest she is taking performance
enhancing drugs
‘Any time someone has looked like superwoman in the history of our sport
they have later been found guilty of doping,’ he added.
He went on to say that the authorities who tested Ye Shewin for drug abuse
should also check to see ‘if there is something unusual going on in terms
of genetic manipulation’.
A Chinese anti-doping official, Jiang Zhixue, described Leonard’s claims as
completely unreasonable.
The astonishing suggestion seems to be that London 2012 may be the first
Olympics in which competitors are attempting to cheat by altering their
genes to build muscle and sinew, and boost their blood’s oxygen-carrying
powers.
More...
'I swear I am not on any drugs': Ye hits back, saying critics are biased
against China
'Get real': Now Olympic committee chief sticking up for China's '
supergirl swimmer' in doping dispute
The chilling comment from one of the world’s top coaches seems to herald
the possibility of Frankenstein athletes, of an unbeatable master-race of
genetically manipulated super-competitors with enhanced lung-power, or
heightened strength, or some other characteristic that enables them to
snatch medal after medal from honest competitors.
And while this might appear to belong to the world of science-fiction,
scientists are taking the threat seriously.
Dr Ted Friedmann, chair of the genetics panel of the World Anti-Doping
Agency, said he ‘would not be surprised at all’ if gene enhancement were
not now being secretly used by some competitors.
He has been working to find ways to detect ‘gene doping’ and prevent it
from becoming common. ‘The technology is ripe for abuse,’ he warned.
But can athletes — or trainers — really enhance their performance through
genetic means?
Ye Shiwen has improved her personal best times dramatically in the last few
days, causing some to get suspicious of her methods to win Olympic gold
Ye Shiwen has improved her personal best times dramatically in the last few
days, causing some to get suspicious of her methods to win Olympic gold
Laboratory experiments have already shown that the science can work. In 2005
, Ronald Evans, a hormone expert working at the Salk Institute of Biological
Studies in La Jolla, California, showed how genetic modification can
increase the athletic power of mice.
Evans produced a group of genetically modified mice with an increased amount
of slow-twitch muscle fibre. This type of fibre is associated with strong
cardiovascular muscles and boosts an athlete’s endurance.
Evans’s mice could run for an hour longer than normal mice, were resistant
to weight gain no matter what they were fed on, and remained at peak fitness
even when they took no exercise. A form of genetic modification is already
being tested in medicine, in the form of gene therapy for diseases such as
cystic fibrosis.
Most gene modification techniques involve placing genetically modified DNA
inside a virus and injecting it into the human body. The virus then enters
human cells, and its modified DNA attaches itself to the human DNA inside
those cells.
Gene therapy is at a very early stage in development and has become possible
as a result of our discovery in 2003 of how to map the human genome.
China's Ye Shiwen has won two gold medals so far, an incredible achievement
for one relatively unknown in the sport a year ago
China's Ye Shiwen has won two gold medals so far, an incredible achievement
for one relatively unknown in the sport a year ago
This meant we could identify specific genes that cause disease — cystic
fibrosis is caused by one faulty gene, for example, and the idea is that
gene therapy can replace the faulty gene with one that works.
In the same way, it may well be possible for athletes to use a virus to
introduce a gene that spurs the production of oxygen-carrying red blood
cells or muscle-building hormones. And the heightened blood-cell counts or
hormone levels might simply appear to the doping agencies to be the product
of an extraordinary athlete’s body.
Tests are being developed to detect this kind of manipulation, but at the
moment, the World Anti-Doping Agency does not have one.
Anna Baoutina, a senior research scientist at the National Measurement
Institute in Sydney, told the Tackling Doping In Sport conference in London
earlier this year that no gene test was in place for the 2012 Olympics.
‘The major advantage of gene doping is that it is very difficult to detect
compared to drug doping. The doping gene is very similar to natural cells
found in the body,’ she told journalists. ‘We are developing methods to
fight it.’
Clare Balding was one of the first to raise the possibility of doping at the
Olympics, when she asked pundit Mark Foster 'How many questions will there
be over somebody who can swim so much faster than she has ever swum before'
Clare Balding was one of the first to raise the possibility of doping at the
Olympics, when she asked pundit Mark Foster 'How many questions will there
be over somebody who can swim so much faster than she has ever swum before'
Olympics leaders say, however, that they are confident they will soon be
able to detect the first generations of genetically super-powered cheats.
For example, Patrick Schamasch, medical director of the International
Olympic Committee (IOC), has said that the viruses used to smuggle genes
into the body leave behind traces which can be detected. But this will
probably not be the case for long, he warned: ‘I’m certain viruses will be
invented that won’t leave traces.’
Instead, Olympics officials are banking on the success of their newly
introduced ‘biological passport’. This keeps track of the athlete’s
overall physiological profile, and triggers alarm if anything about it
changes in a suspicious manner — for example if their everyday hormone
levels take an unusual leap.
Many scientists, though, question the authorities’ confidence in their
ability to catch dopers and point out that cheats are already using
biological methods to avoid detection.
In particular they are concerned about the lack of a test for an
increasingly popular form of cheating — a blood transfusion where athletes
store pints of their own blood and re-inject them later, before a race, for
example.
Arne Ljungqvist, the anti-doping chief of the IOC, has disclosed that about
100 samples from the Athens Games in 2004 had been retested ¿ and six
athletes who competed have been identified as possible drug cheats
Arne Ljungqvist, the anti-doping chief of the IOC, has disclosed that about
100 samples from the Athens Games in 2004 had been retested and six athletes
who competed have been identified as possible drug cheats
This boosts the number of oxygen-carrying red cells in the blood, improving
power and stamina. But it is hard to detect such transfusions, because they
involve the athlete’s own blood, so don’t contain traces of any foreign
body. The WADA has funded research into developing a test for the
transfusions, but it is still not ready.
Professor Dominic Wells, a gene therapy researcher who has studied the
possibility of modifying athletes, believes we are still some way off being
able to use genes to significantly change athletes’ performance.
‘There is a real possibility, however, that this will work for athletes in
the future because we have some of the best brains in medicine working on it
,’ he says.
If genetic manipulation does become common, the Olympic doping authorities
at least have time on their side.
New cheating methods will always remain undetected until the authorities
develop scientific methods of spotting them. Olympic chiefs have therefore
decided to keep medal-winners’ blood samples for eight years, so they can
subject them to new tests when they are developed.
Last week, for example, Arne Ljungqvist, the anti-doping chief of the
International Olympic Committee, disclosed that about 100 samples from the
Athens Games in 2004 had been retested — and six athletes who competed have
been identified as possible drug cheats. ‘The longer you wait the better,
if you want to catch someone,’ he said.
There is, however, a real penalty to pay for this. Whenever we cheer a new
champion on the podium, we must always wonder whether their shiny medal will
be taken back in ignominy years down the line.
The idea of retrospective testing tarnishes Olympic achievement. But if that
is the price we have to pay to keep the spectre of genetically-modified,
unbeatable Franken-athletes at bay, then sadly, it does seem to be worth
paying.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2181873/Genetically-modified-athletes-Forget-drugs-There-suggestions-Chinese-athletes-genes-altered-make-stronger.html#ixzz22ep5Tfwc | m**e
发帖数: 857 | 2 这是一个技术贴，有没有人讲讲下面这个基因疗法？
it may well be possible for athletes to use a virus to introduce a gene that
spurs the production of oxygen-carrying red blood cells or muscle-building
hormones. | D*a
发帖数: 6830 | | m**e
发帖数: 857 | 4 美国FDA管的严，中国可以试试看。
把血红细胞分离出来，用病毒转入oxygen-carrying分子血红蛋白或促红细胞生成素，
体外培养激活后再打入同一人体。
应该有相关的动物实验数据。 | D*a
发帖数: 6830 | 5 有可能，现在是秘密实验阶段，你再等几年，中国就宣布攻克一切基因疾病了。。。什
么肌肉，血液，肝，心，肺，肿瘤。。。都不在话下，指哪儿打哪儿，好几十年的诺贝
尔奖都发不过来
that
building
【在 m**e 的大作中提到】
: 这是一个技术贴，有没有人讲讲下面这个基因疗法？
: it may well be possible for athletes to use a virus to introduce a gene that
: spurs the production of oxygen-carrying red blood cells or muscle-building
: hormones.
| m**e
发帖数: 857 | 6 有个缺点：
一些运动员通过血液回输技术（或称“血液兴奋剂”）来提高比赛成绩。这一技术是首
先从自身体内抽取约一升血液，然后将红血球分离出来，并冷冻保存（红血球在－79
°C下可以保存三个星期），在比赛之前再重新输回体内。这种作弊很难被检测，但这
一方法不仅会导致血液黏度过高，而且对于使用者的循环系统会有极大的损害。
http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%BA%A2%E8%A1%80%E7%90%83
但是或许我们能设计出更高效的血红蛋白，而不是仅仅增加红血球数目。 | l**********1
发帖数: 5204 | 7 体干细胞 cutting edge technology white rabbit already masted
---some Briton journalist may thought it or similar
please refer a couple of weeks ago
Nature News:
"Performance enhancement: Superhuman athletes
Enhancements such as doping are illegal in sport — but if all restrictions
were lifted, science could push human performance to new extremes."
by Helen Thompson
18 July 2012
//www.nature.com/news/performance-enhancement-superhuman-athletes-1.11029
more details pls go to:
http://www.mitbbs.com/article_t1/Biology/31708073_0_7.html
123th floor
【在 m**e 的大作中提到】
: 有个缺点：
: 一些运动员通过血液回输技术（或称“血液兴奋剂”）来提高比赛成绩。这一技术是首
: 先从自身体内抽取约一升血液，然后将红血球分离出来，并冷冻保存（红血球在－79
: °C下可以保存三个星期），在比赛之前再重新输回体内。这种作弊很难被检测，但这
: 一方法不仅会导致血液黏度过高，而且对于使用者的循环系统会有极大的损害。
: http://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%BA%A2%E8%A1%80%E7%90%83
: 但是或许我们能设计出更高效的血红蛋白，而不是仅仅增加红血球数目。
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