LONDON, 17 July 2012 - A state-of-the-art product from the Healthcare division of the London 2012 Olympic Games sponsor, GE will play a key role in the fight against doping at the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games this summer.
GE Healthcare Life Sciences, a $1.8 billion division of GE Healthcare, provides technologies and tools for basic research into cells and proteins, drug discovery research, and large-scale manufacturing of biopharmaceuticals. Its ImageQuant™ LAS4000, a biomolecular imager, is a crucial part of the testing process for recombinant erythropoietin (EPO) - a performance enhancing drug that can be used to boost the number of red blood cells enabling vastly improved oxygen flow, increasing an athlete's endurance. The EPO test will be one of many undertaken during the Games at the new Anti-Doping Science Centre in Harlow, Essex - the most advanced drug testing laboratory in the history of the Olympic Games. GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) is the Official Laboratory Services Provider for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympics Games and will provide facilities and equipment to enable expert analysts from King’s College London to independently operate a World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) accredited laboratory during the London 2012 Games.
The leader of the team of scientists at the new laboratory is Professor David Cowan, Director of the Drug Control Centre at King’s College London. Christiaan Bartlett, a Certifying Analyst working with Professor Cowan, commented, “Usually we test approximately 7,000 samples a year but during the Olympic Games, we will test 5,000 samples in just 17 days and around 1250 samples during the Paralympic Games. The advances in digital imaging in the last 10 years means the LAS4000 can capture a high quality image with great sensitivity, and with short exposure times. Along with GE Healthcare electrophoresis and Western blotting equipment, the ImageQuant™ technology provides us with extremely detailed information. This will help us to accurately identify doping with recombinant EPO and help protect the right of the clean athlete to compete on a level playing field.”
Said Johan von Heijne, Head of Research Products, GE Healthcare Life Sciences, “We’re delighted that our ImageQuant has been chosen by Professor Cowan and his team at the Olympic anti-doping laboratory as a key part of their work there.”
In addition to being integral to the testing process for London 2012, ImageQuant is used by a number of World Anti-Doping Agency accredited laboratories. It is also used by scientists worldwide to support research into the next generation of drug therapies.
About GE and London 2012
G E is the exclusive provider of a wide range of innovative products and services that are integral to staging a successful Olympic Games. GE works closely with host countries, cities and organizing committees to provide infrastructure solutions for Olympic venues including power, lighting, water treatment and transportation. GE also supplies local hospitals with diagnostic imaging equipment and healthcare IT solutions like ultrasound, MRI and electronic medical record technologies to help doctors treat athletes. For more information, visit www.ge.com/olympicgames
About GE Healthcare
GE Healthcare provides transformational medical technologies and services that are shaping a new age of patient care. Our broad expertise in medical imaging and information technologies, medical diagnostics, patient monitoring systems, drug discovery, biopharmaceutical manufacturing technologies, performance improvement and performance solutions services help our customers to deliver better care to more people around the world at a lower cost. In addition, we partner with healthcare leaders, striving to leverage the global policy change necessary to implement a successful shift to sustainable healthcare systems.
Our “healthymagination” vision for the future invites the world to join us on our journey as we continuously develop innovations focused on reducing costs, increasing access and improving quality around the world. Headquartered in the United Kingdom, GE Healthcare is a unit of General Electric Company (NYSE: GE). Worldwide, GE Healthcare employees are committed to serving healthcare professionals and their patients in more than 100 countries. For more information about GE Healthcare, visit our website at www.gehealthcare.com
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About GE in the UK
GE has been operating in the UK since the 1930s and works on things that matter. The best people taking on the toughest challenges. Today our 18,000 UK employees work across 60 major locations, including 25 world-class manufacturing and R&D facilities, finding solutions in energy, oil & gas, healthcare, aerospace and financial industries. Our business is about building, powering. moving and curing the world. Not just imagining. Doing. GE works. For more information visit www.ge.com/uk
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