Forensic detection of steroid abuse - Online hydrotreatment as an elegant preparative step - Resubmission

发现药物滥用对体育运动的安全和公平至关重要。类固醇激素是体育运动中最常见的滥用药物，但确认类固醇滥用可能很困难。一种高度精确的方法是观察类固醇的碳原子内部，以测量其非放射性同位素（碳-12到碳-13）的比例。天然的人体类固醇和药物作弊者使用的类固醇的碳同位素比率明显不同。然而，测量碳同位素比率需要良好的样品制备步骤，并且类固醇对于所使用的仪器来说可能是有问题的。现有的制备技术落后于现代质谱仪检测器的强大功能。STFC的研究已经产生了一种快速的在线方法，可以用来处理类固醇与氢，只留下完整的碳骨架-碳同位素比分析的完美准备步骤。该资助将通过展示该方法相对于现有技术的优势以及生产原型系统来使该方法商业化，该原型系统将使该方法能够被世界各地法医实验室的技术人员使用。商业化将受益于与英国一家主要药物检测服务提供商的合作。

Detection of drug abuse is essential for safety and fairness in sport. Steroid hormones are the most commonly abused drugs in athletics but confirming steroid abuse can be difficult. One highly accurate method is to look inside the carbon atoms of steroid to measure the ratio of their non-radioactive isotopes (carbon-12 to carbon-13). The carbon isotope ratios of natural human steroids and those used by drug cheats are recognizably different. However, measuring carbon isotope ratios requires good sample preparation steps and steroids can be problematic for the instruments used. Existing preparation techniques lag behind the powerful capabilities of modern mass spectrometer detectors. STFC research has produced a rapid on-line method that can be used to treats steroids with hydrogen to leave only the carbon skeleton intact - the perfect preparation step for carbon isotope ratio analysis. This grant will commercialize the method by demonstrating its advantages relative to existing techniques and by producing a prototype system that will allow the method to be used by technical staff in forensic laboratories world-wide. The commercialization will benefit from partnership with a major UK provider of drug testing services.