Dante Labs (WGS)

[MacUalraig]

Dante Labs had a WGS day in July selling their product for just UKP349. Claiming 8w delivery so if so, we should start to see some people discussing their results soon?

https://www.facebook.com/DanteLabs

They are still selling it at its normal price on Amazon but there is some speculation that the reviews are fake. Current price is UKP599 for 30x.

[karwiso]

They have rebated WGS to 399 euro just today, 22 September 2017.

I've ordered WGS and WES for me, mother and my uncle. Superior for European market.

[Donwulff]

I did take the chance with them during their earlier discount on 10th July. It's now 8 weeks since they received the sample, with WGS processing time promised at 7-9 weeks, so I should find out any time now, though it wouldn't be the first company missing their delivery estimates. All the reviews are obviously fake and/or internal, because they weren't on the market publicly long enough for those reviewers to get their results. Discount prices are below the reagent prices alone, with no explanation or plan offered for how they offset the price (Beyond "partnered with Amazon", somebody should get Amazon's perspective on this, they have been enrolled into Amazon's Launchpad giving some credibility). The reviewers use language consumers wouldn't, and the most commonly referenced review on DNAMelogy is from anonymous group from same country as Dante Labs (Italy). This is sometimes a marketing strategy that legit companies choose, though it's unfortunate. That said, a well known genetic genealogist talked with them and vouched that it seemed like a genuine company trying to get off the ground. If you pay by PayPal, you may be able to use their refund guarantee if you don't get results, but be prepared for a long fight in that case.

The experience so far has been good; the sample kit, a standard Oragene OG-500, was dispatched and delivered by DHL (Not their fault but at least here DHL is nearly unworkable, I wasn't home during the day so they canceled the delivery with no notification, I had to guess it was being delivered by DHL, call them to re-arrange the delivery and take the day off work) with pre-paid DHL return shipping. I received e-mail confirmation of the kit reception, and unusually, a confirmation and report of successful DNA extraction. Their customer-support has been very rapid, courteous and accommodating. According to their replies on FaceBook they're using Sequencing.com's DNA-analysis-marketplace for analysis, with a sample report for Wellness & Longevity app (Different one from the sample report on Sequencing.com) having been shared.

[MacUalraig]

They have rebated WGS to 399 euro just today, 22 September 2017.

I've ordered WGS and WES for me, mother and my uncle. Superior for European market.

Crikey so they have - they must read Anthrogenica!

[MacUalraig]

I did take the chance with them during their earlier discount on 10th July. It's now 8 weeks since they received the sample, with WGS processing time promised at 7-9 weeks, so I should find out any time now, though it wouldn't be the first company missing their delivery estimates. All the reviews are obviously fake and/or internal, because they weren't on the market publicly long enough for those reviewers to get their results. Discount prices are below the reagent prices alone, with no explanation or plan offered for how they offset the price (Beyond "partnered with Amazon", somebody should get Amazon's perspective on this, they have been enrolled into Amazon's Launchpad giving some credibility). The reviewers use language consumers wouldn't, and the most commonly referenced review on DNAMelogy is from anonymous group from same country as Dante Labs (Italy). This is sometimes a marketing strategy that legit companies choose, though it's unfortunate. That said, a well known genetic genealogist talked with them and vouched that it seemed like a genuine company trying to get off the ground. If you pay by PayPal, you may be able to use their refund guarantee if you don't get results, but be prepared for a long fight in that case.

The experience so far has been good; the sample kit, a standard Oragene OG-500, was dispatched and delivered by DHL (Not their fault but at least here DHL is nearly unworkable, I wasn't home during the day so they canceled the delivery with no notification, I had to guess it was being delivered by DHL, call them to re-arrange the delivery and take the day off work) with pre-paid DHL return shipping. I received e-mail confirmation of the kit reception, and unusually, a confirmation and report of successful DNA extraction. Their customer-support has been very rapid, courteous and accommodating. According to their replies on FaceBook they're using Sequencing.com's DNA-analysis-marketplace for analysis, with a sample report for Wellness & Longevity app (Different one from the sample report on Sequencing.com) having been shared.

There is a real need for some believable reviews including screen shots, report extracts, Y and mt haplogroup determination etc (assuming you get those). dnatestingchoices.com sometimes have useful reviews and I've talked to them before but this is a bit lame:

"Dante Labs Review

5 September 2017

Whole Genome Sequencing
5
Approved Review

I am very interested in buying the whole genome sequencing pack. Next Generation Sequencing is very rare and I trust the quality of this product.

Dante Labs DNA Sequencing review by a DNA Testing Choice user"

https://dnatestingchoice.com/search/dante

What a joke.

[karwiso]

As Donwulff said there are not many reviews of the company. According to genomeweb molecular-diagnostics/dante-labs-offers-direct-consumer-hereditary-disease-risk-genome-exome-tests this article it is quite new vendor for DNA testing. I think they have good possibilities to grew in the European market. Their offers are very attractive and I think they do this to attract new customers and get some reviews here and there.

So far: They deliver with DHL and you get prepaid DHL labels to returns the samples. When samples kits are shipped you get DHL Waybill number so you can track the pack. It took just one day to get the kit (from Italy to Sweden) and one day to ship the kit back to Italy. My kits were marked as received the same day they were delivered. The WES kit status was updated after 11 days and I got a DNA-extraction report. I suppose that my sample is in sequencing now.
I ordered two WGS kits for my relatives in Russia and I was quite surprised that kits are send with DHL (it is not to big cities as St Petersburg and Moscow, but to rather distant smaller city). There were some additional documentation attached for the customs.
So far I am very satisfied with the service.
I am testing for genealogical pursposes, not medical. If we consider discounted prices, you get more bang for the buck with WGS compared to tests at FTDNA, Ancestry and so on. With WGS one gets exome, autosomal, mt-DNA and Y-chromosome. If we count all tests as FF, mtDNA-full, Y67/Y111 plus BigY, then WGS is the way to go. There is only question how we could use WGS for genealogy - the results could not be easily shared and compared yet.

[MacUalraig]

As Donwulff said there are not many reviews of the company. According to genomeweb molecular-diagnostics/dante-labs-offers-direct-consumer-hereditary-disease-risk-genome-exome-tests this article it is quite new vendor for DNA testing. I think they have good possibilities to grew in the European market. Their offers are very attractive and I think they do this to attract new customers and get some reviews here and there.

So far: They deliver with DHL and you get prepaid DHL labels to returns the samples. When samples kits are shipped you get DHL Waybill number so you can track the pack. It took just one day to get the kit (from Italy to Sweden) and one day to ship the kit back to Italy. My kits were marked as received the same day they were delivered. The WES kit status was updated after 11 days and I got a DNA-extraction report. I suppose that my sample is in sequencing now.
I ordered two WGS kits for my relatives in Russia and I was quite surprised that kits are send with DHL (it is not to big cities as St Petersburg and Moscow, but to rather distant smaller city). There were some additional documentation attached for the customs.
So far I am very satisfied with the service.
I am testing for genealogical pursposes, not medical. If we consider discounted prices, you get more bang for the buck with WGS compared to tests at FTDNA, Ancestry and so on. With WGS one gets exome, autosomal, mt-DNA and Y-chromosome. If we count all tests as FF, mtDNA-full, Y67/Y111 plus BigY, then WGS is the way to go. There is only question how we could use WGS for genealogy - the results could not be easily shared and compared yet.

If I recall Full Genomes send out their saliva collection kit by courier too, presumably because of the liquids in it ??

There are a few people looking at how we might go about using full (WGS) autosomal DNA for genealogy. One of them is also a traditional SNP based autosomal match to me luckily. I am convinced we will be doing it before long and hopefully WGS will go mainstream soon given the way prices are going.

[karwiso]

If I recall Full Genomes send out their saliva collection kit by courier too, presumably because of the liquids in it ??

I don't think it is because liquids. AncestryDNA has a very similar kit for saliva collection, but their kit is mailed and you mail it back in prepaid box. Probably it depends on amount of kits mailed and contracts with the post or other carriers. But it is still nice to get kits and samples faster and be able to track them. LivingDNA uses B-post and it took 2 or 3 weeks to see the kit as received by the lab...

[Donwulff]

New review for Dante Labs on medgadget.com
It's not independent in that the reviewer got it for free and thus Dante Labs knew there was going to be a review, but it does look like a genuine outside review.
I, on the other hand, sent the sample in 11 weeks ago now, with Dante Labs stating I'd receive results within couple of weeks three weeks ago, so I'm inclined to think it's a scam. As said, it wouldn't be the first time a DNA company misses delivery estimates, but given the campaign prices are so far below going price/materials price (Human whole genome sequencing at BGI starts at $600, Illumina is couple hundred more) with no plan to cover the price difference presented that they have burden of proof.
There is also a first "Verified Purchase" review on Amazon, but it sounds & looks like Dante Labs press release. My reading is that they ordered the test on 5th September so could not actually have received the results in any case (Which is quite confusing, why admit it was ordered three weeks ago if the processing time is eight weeks?)
Sequencing.com, their biinformatics analytics partner, has been listing Dante Labs as their "preferred provider" for a while though.

[MacUalraig]

Review here:

https://www.medgadget.com/2017/09/da...ng-review.html

so sounds like he hasn't looked at his BAM file, or it wasn't available... but only a vcf file. And no look at his Y/mtDNA.