COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado – An anti-doping alliance among US pro sports leagues, the US Olympic Committee and the US Anti-Doping Agency handed out its first research grant on Wednesday.

The 500,000-dollar grant went to Cornell University researcher J. Thomas Brenna, who is looking for better ways to detect steroids in urine.

Major League Baseball, the National Football League, USOC and USADA pooled 10 million dollars last year to create the Partnership for Clean Competition, vowing to give out grants to scientists to further the fight against doping.

Brenna's research is designed to detect previously uncharacterized or unknown designer steroids in urine, said USADA scientist Larry Bowers.

Brenna also testified as an expert witness for USADA in the doping case against US cyclist Floyd Landis.

Landis was stripped of his 2006 Tour de France title after a drug test showed he had taken synthetic testosterone, a finding Landis challenged.