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  • Sports Medicine for Anti-Doping
  • Sports performance

Sports performance

State-of-the-art laboratories at the University of Brighton investigate human systems biology with special applications to elite sport, sports medicine and sports nutrition.

The SUB2 marathon project is the first dedicated international research initiative made up of specialist multidisciplinary scientists from academia, elite athletes and strategic industry partners with the aim to promote clean marathon running i.e. high performance marathon running without doping.

The Athlome project gathers genotype and phenotype data of elite athletes, adaptation to exercise training (in both human and animal models), and muscle-related injuries from excising studies and consortiums worldwide. The main aim of the project is to characterise the genetics and biology of sport and exercise medicine, as a platform to understanding healthy body function and major chronic disease conditions such as cardiovascular disease, obesity and type 2 diabetes.

Sports performance research projects

Sub-2hr

Countdown to the first sub2hr marathon

First dedicated international research initiative

Athlome-project-banner

Athlome project

Research team

Professor Yannis Pitsiladis

Dr Guan Wang

Output

IOC tackles the topic of nutritional supplements, their use and their effects

No Evidence of a Common DNA Variant Profile Specific to World Class Endurance Athletes.

Rankinen T, Fuku N, Wolfarth B, Wang G, Sarzynski MA, Alexeev DG, Ahmetov II, Boulay MR, Cieszczyk P, Eynon N, Filipenko ML, Garton FC, Generozov EV, Govorun VM, Houweling PJ, Kawahara T, Kostryukova ES, Kulemin NA, Larin AK, Maciejewska-Karłowska A, Miyachi M, Muniesa CA, Murakami H, Ospanova EA, Padmanabhan S, Pavlenko AV, Pyankova ON, Santiago C, Sawczuk M, Scott RA, Uyba VV, Yvert T, Perusse L, Ghosh S, Rauramaa R, North KN, Lucia A, Pitsiladis Y, Bouchard C.

PLoS One. 2016 Jan 29;11(1):e0147330. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0147330. eCollection 2016.

PMID: 26824906 Free PMC Article Similar articles Select item 26812985

Advancing sports and exercise genomics: moving from hypothesis-driven single study approaches to large multi-omics collaborative science.

Tanaka M, Wang G, Pitsiladis YP.

Physiol Genomics. 2016 Jan 26:physiolgenomics.00009.2016. doi: 10.1152/physiolgenomics.00009.2016. [Epub ahead of print]

PMID: 26812985 Similar articles Select item 26757800

Association of ACTN3 R577X but not ACE I/D gene variants with elite rugby union player status and playing position.

Heffernan SM, Kilduff LP, Erskine RM, Day SH, McPhee JS, McMahon GE, Stebbings GK, Neale JP, Lockey SJ, Ribbans WJ, Cook CJ, Vance B, Raleigh SM, Roberts C, Bennett MA, Wang G, Collins M, Pitsiladis YP, Williams AG.

Physiol Genomics. 2016 Jan 12:physiolgenomics.00107.2015. doi: 10.1152/physiolgenomics.00107.2015. [Epub ahead of print]

PMID: 26757799 Similar articles Select item 26715623

The Athlome Project Consortium: A Concerted Effort to Discover Genomic and other "OMIC" Markers of Athletic Performance.

Pitsiladis YP, Tanaka M, Eynon N, Bouchard C, North KN, Williams AG, Collins M, Moran CN, Britton SL, Fuku N, Ashley EA, Klissouras V, Lucia A, Ahmetov II, de Geus EJ, Alsayrafi M.

Physiol Genomics. 2015 Dec 29:physiolgenomics.00105.2015. doi: 10.1152/physiolgenomics.00105.2015. [Epub ahead of print]

PMID: 26715623 Similar articles Select item 26707057

Physical fitness differences between rural and urban children from western Kenya.

Castillo ER, Sang MK, Sigei TK, Dingwall HL, Okutoyi P, Ojiambo R, Otárola-Castillo ER, Pitsiladis Y, Lieberman DE.

Am J Hum Biol. 2015 Dec 28. doi: 10.1002/ajhb.22822. [Epub ahead of print]

PMID: 26707057 Similar articles Select item 26707016

Letter to the editor.

Mooses M, Mooses K, Haile DW, Durussel J, Kaasik P, Pitsiladis YP.

J Sports Sci. 2016 Jan;34(1):99-100. doi: 10.1080/02640414.2015.1045927.

PMID: 26652187 Similar articles Select item 26582191

Direct-to-consumer genetic testing for predicting sports performance and talent identification: Consensus statement.

Webborn N, Williams A, McNamee M, Bouchard C, Pitsiladis Y, Ahmetov I, Ashley E, Byrne N, Camporesi S, Collins M, Dijkstra P, Eynon N, Fuku N, Garton FC, Hoppe N, Holm S, Kaye J, Klissouras V, Lucia A, Maase K, Moran C, North KN, Pigozzi F, Wang G.

Br J Sports Med. 2015 Dec;49(23):1486-91. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2015-095343.

PMID: 26582191 Free PMC Article Similar articles Select item 26377674

The Effects of Hyperhydrating Supplements Containing Creatine and Glucose on Plasma Lipids and Insulin Sensitivity in Endurance-Trained Athletes.

Polyviou TP, Pitsiladis YP, Celis-Morales C, Brown B, Speakman JR, Malkova D.

J Amino Acids. 2015;2015:352458. doi: 10.1155/2015/352458. Epub 2015 Jun 17.

PMID: 26167296 Free PMC Article Similar articles Select item 26154285

Variation in Foot Strike Patterns among Habitually Barefoot and Shod Runners in Kenya.

Lieberman DE, Castillo ER, Otarola-Castillo E, Sang MK, Sigei TK, Ojiambo R, Okutoyi P, Pitsiladis Y.

PLoS One. 2015 Jul 8;10(7):e0131354. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0131354. eCollection 2015.

PMID: 26154285 Free PMC Article Similar articles Select item 25800134

Genomics in rugby union: A review and future prospects.

Heffernan SM, Kilduff LP, Day SH, Pitsiladis YP, Williams AG.

Eur J Sport Sci. 2015;15(6):460-8. doi: 10.1080/17461391.2015.1023222. Epub 2015 Mar 23.

PMID: 25800134 Similar articles Select item 25720386

Sources/links

Watch Yannis Pitsiladis TEDx presentation on Why white men can't run. Scientific evidence?

New York Times article - Man vs Marathon Part 1

New York Times article - Man vs Marathon Part 2

Collaborations

Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) 

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) 

International Sports Medicine Federation (FIMS) 

World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) 

Affymetrix UK Ltd 

Funding

World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Necessary Steps for the Application of an Integrative “Omics” Solution to the Detection of Recombinant Human Erythropoietin. $ 350,000. 2016-2018.

World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). A systems biology biomarkers approach to the differentiation of recombinant human erythropoietin doping from confounding factors. $ 256,530. 2014-2016.

World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). A New Dimension to the Detection of Recombinant Human Erythropoietin Doping Using Blood Gene Expression Profiles: Development of Direct Anti-Doping Applications. $85,137.23. 2013.

European Athletics Innovation Awards 2012. Essay: “White” men can’t run: Where is the scientific evidence? Dr Yannis Pitsiladis, Dr Ploutarhos Saraslanidis, Mr Anthony St C Davis.

World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). A systems biology biomarker based approach to the detection of microdose recombinant human erythropoietin doping. $308,364. 2011-2013.

World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Metabolomic profiling of recombinant erythropoietin (r-HuEPO) in caucasian and east-African endurance trained athletes. $268,675. 2011-2013.

World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Application of a minimally-invasive method for RNA sampling and the addition of miRNA to the detection of recombinant human erythropoietin (r-HuEpo) use by athletes. $203,505. 2011-2013.

World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). A gene-microarray based approach to the detection of recombinant human erythropoietin doping in endurance athletes. World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), $ 300,413. 2009-2012.

Iovate Health Sciences Research Inc., Ontario, Canada: Combined creatine and glycerol hyperhydration and physiological responses during exercise in the heat in endurance-trained humans. £183,104.00. 2003-2008.

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