Frequently asked questions about whole genome sequencing.

Consumer WGS is not "FDA approved" in the way a drug is approved, because the FDA regulates devices and specific claims rather than sequencing itself. Individual laboratory-developed tests (LDTs) are performed in CLIA-certified labs under CMS oversight. Dante Labs' lab is CLIA certified and CAP accredited — the two standards that matter for clinical-grade output. Individual reports may or may not be FDA-cleared depending on what claims they make.

At 30x coverage on an Illumina NovaSeq X, variant-call accuracy for single-nucleotide variants is around 99.98%. Structural variants and repetitive regions are less accurately called on short-read platforms — long-read sequencing (PacBio HiFi, Oxford Nanopore) is better for those but is not yet available at consumer prices. For 95%+ of clinically actionable content, 30x short-read WGS is the current standard of care.

Consumer WGS ordered directly from Dante Labs is generally not covered by insurance because it's not being ordered by a physician for a specific diagnostic indication. WGS ordered clinically through a hospital genetics service, for specific indications like undiagnosed rare disease or hereditary cancer risk assessment, may be covered depending on your plan. If you want an insurance-billable test, ask your doctor for a clinical genetics referral rather than buying a consumer kit.

In the US, the Genetic Information Non-discrimination Act (GINA) protects you from health insurance and employment discrimination based on genetic testing. GINA does not cover life insurance, long-term care insurance, or disability insurance. Some states have added protections. Rules vary by country: the UK has a moratorium agreement, Canada has the Genetic Non-Discrimination Act, and the EU has GDPR protections. If life insurance is a concern for you, buy your policy before sequencing.

A finding is not a diagnosis. A pathogenic variant means you have elevated risk, not that you have the condition. The correct next step for any concerning finding is a session with a board-certified genetic counsellor — they'll review the specific variant, its established penetrance, family history relevance, and appropriate follow-up. Sessions typically cost $100–$300 and are sometimes covered by insurance. Do not act on any single test result without professional confirmation.

The technology is often identical — the difference is in the lab environment and quality processes. Clinical-grade sequencing is performed in a CLIA-certified lab under documented QC protocols and can be used to inform medical decisions. Research-grade sequencing is not subject to those requirements and cannot be used clinically. Dante's consumer WGS is performed in their CLIA-certified clinical lab.

Dante's marketing says 8–10 weeks. User reports on Reddit, Trustpilot and Facebook groups cluster around 10–14 weeks. Delays beyond that are not uncommon. If you need results by a specific date — before a pregnancy decision, before starting a new medication, before a surgery — do not rely on any consumer WGS provider hitting an aggressive timeline. Order clinically through a genetics service if timing is critical.

Yes. Once your data is provisioned, you can download the FASTQ, BAM, and VCF files and store them independently. Nothing keeps you tied to Dante after that download. Do it. Corporate ownership changes (Dante was acquired by Bio Cell Tech in April 2026) are exactly why you want the files on your own hardware, not just in a portal.

Nebula Genomics did shut down in 2024 — customers with downloaded raw data kept access to their genomes; customers who relied only on Nebula's portal lost access to reports. This is the strongest single argument for downloading FASTQ, BAM and VCF the moment they're available and storing them somewhere durable (a home NAS, encrypted cloud, an external SSD in a safe). Your files are the asset. The portal is a convenience.

The FASTQ files are the bulk (~350GB). Options: an external 2TB SSD ($100–$150 one-time), a home NAS (Synology, QNAP), or encrypted cloud storage (Backblaze B2 or AWS S3 Glacier at roughly $1–$4 per month for the whole genome). Do not store on a single hard drive as your only copy — treat this as important data and follow the 3-2-1 backup rule.

Dante's privacy policy commits to not selling or sharing individual-level data with third parties for marketing without consent. They may use de-identified, aggregated data for research. Your account is protected by password and optional two-factor authentication. Data is encrypted at rest and in transit. Post-acquisition (April 2026, Bio Cell Tech), review the current privacy policy before ordering — policies can change under new ownership.

In principle, any data held by a company can be requested by law enforcement with a valid warrant or subpoena. Dante does not publish a transparency report. Unlike genealogy databases (GEDmatch, FamilyTreeDNA) where investigative genetic genealogy has been extensively used, direct-to-lab clinical WGS providers are not known to be routinely queried this way — but the theoretical exposure exists. Download your files, delete the online copy if you're concerned, and don't upload your raw data to genealogy databases unless you're comfortable with the implications.

Dante will process samples from minors when submitted by a parent or legal guardian. Whether you should is a separate question. The general professional consensus is to delay predictive adult-onset testing (BRCA, cardiac risk genes) in children until they can meaningfully consent, unless there is a specific clinical indication that would change medical management in childhood. Diagnostic testing for a suspected condition is different and should be pursued clinically.

Yes — each family member gets their own kit and their own reports. VCF files can be compared with third-party tools to identify shared variants, run trio analyses for suspected rare disease, or investigate inherited patterns. This is significantly more powerful than the single-person analysis but requires more than one kit purchase.

The lab is legitimate — CLIA certified, CAP accredited, ISO 15189, uses current-generation Illumina sequencers, over 100,000 genomes sequenced. The sequencing quality is genuinely excellent. Customer service and shipping reliability are famously poor; Trustpilot reviews are polarised for a reason. You are buying laboratory output, not customer experience. If you understand that trade-off going in, they are the value pick.

In April 2026, Dante Labs was acquired by Bio Cell Tech FZCO, a UAE-based entity, with the genomics arm renamed Lifespan Genomics Labs FZCO. The dantelabs.com consumer site continued operating with no announced product or price changes at the time of writing. Whether the acquisition improves operations or changes data handling remains to be seen. Download your files.

Yes, but the ancestry infrastructure at Dante is not as developed as at 23andMe or Ancestry, whose entire business is built around that use case. If ancestry is your primary interest, WGS is overkill and a $99 genotyping kit is the better product. If health and raw data ownership are your primary interests, WGS is the answer and ancestry is a nice-to-have. Third-party tools can compute ancestry from your VCF if you want more detail.

No. Dante's consumer WGS test is direct-to-consumer — you order it yourself. Some clinical uses of WGS do require a physician order (typically insurance-billable testing through a hospital genetics service). For personal use, no order is needed.

Dante will send a replacement kit at no charge if sequencing fails due to sample quality issues. Common causes: too little saliva collected, contamination from food or toothpaste, damaged tube in transit, or a lab-side failure. This adds several weeks to your total timeline but does not cost more money.

Save 10% on top of Dante's current price with the GENOME code. Free global shipping. Order at Dante Labs.