Which Premier League Time DNA Tested Its Squad For Genetic Mutations?
WHICH Premier League club tested its players’ DNA to discover who was susceptible to injury? The Sunday Times says such a test creates “fears that it will be used to weed out players liable to injury“.
The tests were performed by Marios Kambouris, a leading molecular geneticist and assistant professor at Yale University School of Medicine.
He is the author of the lecture “Predictive genomics profiling in athletics and sports performance.”
Genes control biological systems such as muscle, cartilage and bone formation, muscle energy production and metabolism (mitochondriogenesis, lactic acid removal), blood and tissue oxygenation (erythropoiesis, angiogenesis, vasodilatation) all essential in Athletics and Sports. DNA sequence variations in these genes confer genetic advantages that can be exploited and genetic ‘barriers’ that could be overcome to achieve optimal athletic performance.
The four ‘P’s of Predictive Genomics (Personalization, Prediction, Prevention, Participation) are not only applicable but rather essential in athletics. Predictive genomic profiling for athletics reveals genetic variations that determine suitability for sports requiring either endurance or strength and speed, determine vulnerability to sports-related traumas as well as individualised nutritional requirements. Knowledge of genetic ‘suitability’ in respect to endurance capacity or strength and speed would lead to appropriate sport and athletic activity selection. Knowledge of genetic advantages and barriers would ‘direct’ an individualised training programme and nutritional plan and supplementation to achieving optimal performance, overcome the ‘pain barriers’ that results from intense exercise and pressure under competition with minimum waste of time and energy and avoidance of health risks (hypertension, cardiovascular disease, inflammation and injuries in tendons and bones) related to exercise, training and competition.
Genetic ‘profiling’ for Athletics and Sports performance is an essential tool for proper Athletic activity and Sport selection as well as for the formulation of Individualized and Personalized training and nutritional programmes for optimising health and performance for the athlete.
Kambouris tells the paper:
“I have no idea which players they were but there were good genes in there, things which would positively affect their performance, such as their ability to have better aerobic respiration, which would give them more stamina on the pitch.”
How do we know about this test if it is so secretive? Well, this site says:
His interest lie in global alliances, venture capital recruiting and private investment fund raising.
Might it be a spot of PR?
The Sunday Times reports:
Swabs were taken from inside the players’ mouths and the DNA placed on a small testing device called a biochip. This had been coated with the genetic mutations for which they were being tested. The players’ mutant genes “linked up” with those already on the biochip and this in turn allowed the scientists to read the footballers’ genetic profile under a laser beam and assess the risk of injury.
The role that is played by specific genes in increasing the risk of tendon injuries was discovered by Nicola Maffulli, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at the Centre for Sports and Exercise Medicine at Queen Mary, University of London. He found that mutations in a collagen gene called COL5A1 led to the ribbon-like structure that supports the tendon being more loosely connected, making the tendon less stable as a result.
Professor Maffulli said the tests provided obvious advantages to clubs. However, he warned: “It may be really unfair to have a child who likes football, who may be told he will never make it because he has the wrong set of genes.”
Ergo: Lionel Messi.
Posted: 16th, October 2011 | In: Sports Comments (2) | TrackBack | Permalink
