Case Study
Dr. Lee Sweeney, chairman of the physiology department at the University of Pennsylvania, created the gene that produces IGF-1, the body’s main growth hormone, with the purpose of treating muscular diseases or simply strengthening weak muscles of the elderly. To start, Dr. Sweeney has experimented gene doping on mice and discovered eye-opening results. By simply injecting a growth-hormone gene into the DNA of their muscles, Sweeney’s mice have gained 20% muscle mass without a single workout. He commented that if they were to work out, they would be able to increase their strength by 35%. And that not even old age weakens their strength. With the thought of one day using this study to enhance athletes, Sweeney comments, “This would stop that loss of speed that takes a 30 year old off the circuit. This could take athletes to a certain level of performance with less training.” With body builders ready to submit themselves as an experiment, Sweeney says, “They are saying they are ready and they want to try it and give me my data. They want to do anything to improve their performance."
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