This article has been accepted for publication and undergone full peer review but has not been through the copyediting, typesetting, pagination and proofreading process which may lead to differences between this version and the Version of Record. Please cite this article as doi: 10.1002/dta.2179 This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. RNA stabilized blood tubes to measure haemoglobin concentration Nicolas Leuenberger 1* , Céline Schobinger 1 , Olivier Salamin 2 , Martial Saugy 2 and Tiia Kuuranne 1 1 Swiss Laboratory for Doping Analyses, University Centre of Legal Medicine, Lausanne and Geneva , Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois and University of Lausanne, Switzerland 2 Center of Research and Expertise in anti-Doping sciences - REDs, University of Lausanne, Switzerland Corresponding Author for correspondence and reprint requests: Nicolas Leuenberger, PhD Swiss Laboratory for Doping Analyses Ch. Des Croisettes 22 1066 Epalinges Email: Nicolas.leuenberger@chuv.ch Phone: +41 21 314 70 94 Fax : +41 21 314 70 95 Abstract Recent investigation demonstrated that measurements of reticulocytes gene transcripts could serve as potential biomarkers to detect blood doping. Reticulocytes gene transcripts were collected into stabilized RNA blood tubes that allowed gene transcripts stability up to five days at room temperature. In order to investigate applicability of the equipment to the routine sample collection, measurement of another parameter which is used to detect blood doping, namely haemoglobin concentration measurement was tested in RNA stabilized blood tubes. A strong correlation between paired EDTA and RNA stabilized blood samples was observed. In addition, storage stability was investigated.