NEXT-MILANLab

Advanced Genomics Services, designed and developed by NEXT Genomics in certified Italian laboratories, allow to obtain valuable information regarding the health and professional career of athletes based on the following aspects:

• Performance levels (from oxygen transport to lactate metabolism)
• Injury prevention (muscular, tendon, ligament and bone-cartilage)

Sports performance has always shown a high degree of inter-individual variability, even in well-trained individuals. In this regard, in recent years an extensive scientific literature has been produced in an attempt to identify and describe the morphological, anthropometric, physiological, functional and motor characteristics of the athletes who had achieved high levels of competition. Only in recent years research has focused on genetic analysis and in particular on DNA polymorphisms (SNP, "Single Nucleotide Polymorphism"). Looking for the effects of an individual genetic variant on sports performance is really complicated (we often speak of a "polygenic trait"). However, numerous studies have shown that physiological parameters, genetically determinable, have a direct influence on sports performance: maximal oxygen consumption, oxidative enzymatic activities and anatomical parameters. It is important to stress that athletes who have achieved high levels of competition over time often have a combination of genotypes that we could call "favorable" for sports performance.

Athletes belonging to any discipline, both in the competitive and amateur, today have the opportunity to assess the personal predisposition to individual sports. The knowledge of strengths and weaknesses at the genomic level will then allow developing a highly personalized "training", in order to obtain the maximum of athlete's performance.

NEXT Genomics provides high-profile personnel (doctors, biologists and biotechnologists) to sports clubs with the aim of supporting professionals in the evaluation of genetic data and in the application of the recommended protocols. This service is nowadays active in some prestigious international companies/teams. Moreover, NEXT Genomics is able to build genomic databases for screening and computerization.