As team trials get underway for the upcoming Summer Olympics in Paris, athletes are counting on a fair and, well, level playing field. And these days, keeping things fair and equitable may include blood testing to screen for steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs.
That’s where the California startup Ember LifeSciences comes in. The company recently announced that the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) will use its cold chain technology to ensure the integrity of blood samples shipped from competition sites to testing labs for the team trials and other upcoming sporting events.
The blood samples will be transported in the startup’s “Ember Cube,” a self-refrigerated, self-monitoring shipping container for items like temperature-sensitive pharmaceuticals, vaccines, and lab specimens. Each reusable box is linked to a cloud-based dashboard, allowing USADA to monitor the real-time location, ambient temperature, and payload temperature of the cubes during transit, ensuring that the blood samples maintain optimal temperatures and that the chain of custody is maintained throughout the journey.
This isn’t Ember LifeSciences’ first partnership with the anti-doping organization. Over the past year, USADA has used the Ember Cube to ship blood samples for a number of high-profile sporting events, including the Boston and New York Marathons; the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii; and a Professional Fighters League MMA (mixed martial arts) match.
