No. 216: Advanced technology to detect hormone of the doping test (December 20, 2010)

Two professors of Kansai University developed the technology to detect hormone of the doping test and sickness-linked protein at one million times higher sensitivity than the conventional technology in collaboration with Dainippon Toryo and Shimadzu Corp. The research team developed the mass analysis technology of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The newly-developed technology can detect a molecule in less than one minute regardless of the size, and neither reagent nor additive is required. The technology uses an iron oxide film with dips on a stainless plate, and the film is a littler thicker than one nanometer, and irradiates a dried nano particle on the film with laser for ionization. It calculates the ion’s mass from the weight and narrows down substances. It costs only 500 yen to examine a drop because it uses iron. It successfully detected male hormone subject to the doping test in a volume that is one millionth of the volume needed by the conventional technology. It is useful even if the test substance contains impurities. It is based on the technology developed by Koichi Tanaka who captured the Noble Prize in Chemistry in 2002. Shimadzu is scheduled to put the technology into practical use next year because it will be useful for the test of a wide range of substances including blood, urine, and environmental pollutant.