MGI Tech Co., Ltd. (“MGI”), a company committed to building core tools and technologies that drive innovation in life science, today announced its collaboration with renowned geneticist, Professor Yannis Pitsiladis from Hong Kong Baptist University, on sports and anti-doping research. Utilizing MGI’s state-of-the-art DNBSEQ sequencers and automation platforms, the collaboration will leverage the power of omics to detect drugs in sport with reference to blood doping.
“With an estimated 6% of top athletes worldwide using doping, more sophisticated methods of detection are required to stamp out this unethical practice,” said Prof. Pitsiladis, a pioneer in anti-doping research and a member of the International Olympic Committee Medical and Scientific Commission. “High throughput sequencing could play a vital role in spotting blood doping, the method used and even when it took place. MGI’s advanced sequencing tools are helping to optimize what was once a labor-intensive, costly, and time-consuming process.”
As the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics commence, Prof. Pitsiladis, invited by the World Olympians Association (WOA), will showcase his research and participate in a panel discussion, as part of Hong Kong Baptist University’s two-day program during the games, taking place on 29 July at OLY House Paris 2024 @ Caisse d’Epargne. Additionally, MGI will exhibit its cutting-edge portable DNBSEQ-E25 sequencer, ultra-high speed DNBSEQ-G99 platform, and AlphaTool automated pipetting robot at the venue, offering Olympians from around the world a glimpse of the advanced technologies.
On July 22, Prof. Pitsiladis, in conjunction with MGI and other international researchers, published a perspective article titled “Practical steps to develop a transcriptomic test for blood doping” on Translational Exercise Biomedicine. Outlining considerations for developing a transcriptomic test for blood doping, the article serves to assist international research and anti-doping centers in adopting transcriptomic testing in compliance with the World Anti-Doping Agency.
“We are proud to empower valuable research into sports performance and anti-doping testing through omics and showcase our technologies at one of the most important events in sports,” said Duncan Yu, President of MGI. “With intelligent innovation at the heart of MGI, we are committed to applying our technologies to enable significant advancements and support groundbreaking applications in this field.”
