The lab also tests urine specimens from athletes participating in events sponsored by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the National Football League and some international sports federations. When testing specimens from sporting events, the IU Drug Analysis Laboratory looks for evidence of use of possibly hundreds of banned or illegal substances or compounds. That testing is usually less complex, with fewer illegal substances potentially in the mix. Nine mass spectrometers, the workhorses of the operation, run twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week performing innumerable tests for substances and compounds banned in the various sporting worlds. The new equipment is fifty times more sensitive than the typical mass spectrometer found in the lab.
Lab techs interpret the data supplied by the computers tied to the spectrometers.
On a parallel track, researchers are working to determine methods to identify new compounds athletes may be taking. All of this is done not so much to police the sport, but to ensure a level playing field, explains Dr. Bowers, who is passionate about protecting the rights of athletes.