Stanford genome study eyes super athletes

PALO ALTO, Calif. (KGO) -- While most of us will never run like an Olympic sprinter, or jump like an NBA all-star, could we borrow some of their genetic magic to make us healthier? Researchers at Stanford are studying some of the top athletes in the country to find out.

"We're interested to see which genes, which pathways, what biology really determines what makes them jump higher, run faster," project director Euan Ashley, M.D., says.

Dr. Ashley runs Stanford's Genomics Clinic, which typically searches for links between specific genes and conditions like heart disease. But now, his team is turning that strategy around, looking instead for selective advantages, that might make the rest of us healthier.

"It helps me to determine how the heart works, to study the fittest people on earth, because they're the one who's engine, if you like, works the best," Ashley explains.

To identify the best of the best, researchers start with volunteers like members of the Stanford crew team. Kaess Smit is an Olympic hopeful, who rows in a center power position.

"They say each stroke is like a 100-pound power clean. I'd say it's very physical," Smit says.

But for this project he's rowing for science, wired to a testing device that measures the maximum amount of oxygen his lungs can process under full stress, an indication of training and possibly superior genetics. Only athletes who hit a top measurement, are accepted into the study.

The athletes who do pass, will donate DNA samples, allowing researchers to sequence their genomes. The team is hoping to identify so-called performance genes and perhaps genetic mutations that could be used to develop new drugs, potentially bolstering weakened hearts or struggling lungs.

"If, there are genetic determinants, I think we'll be able to discover some of them. And I hope we'll be able to help people," Ashley says.

Ashley says any breakthroughs aren't likely to turn most of us into Olympians, but they could notch a victory for medicine, with the help of some of the fittest athletes in the world.

The Stanford team is recruiting athletes from around the world, and hopes to eventually sequence the genomes of as many as 1,000 people for the study.

Written and produced by Tim Didion