Major update to website and processes

Well, we’ve learnt a lot after being in business almost one year - and so much has happened!

We have a large number of extractions about to complete in the lab. We’ve found through trial, more trails, and error, that genotyping, a neat, efficient and cost effective method, is not suitable for the majority of our samples. This is because of the nature of our samples - firstly, there just isn’t a lot of DNA in them, and secondly, the DNA is often degraded.

This means that we’ve been exploring Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS). WGS is proven to be successful with degraded samples - albeit at a cost. WGS is much more expensive than genotyping - but the price continues to come down. In 1991 the original Human Genome Project cost around $2.7 billion dollars! Now you’ll see advertised prices around $1000USD, and even cheaper. Remember these prices pertain to fresh DNA samples - not the type that we are dealing with.

Moving forward, we are offering our customers the option for extraction only (and store the DNA until WGS comes down, if genotyping isn’t an option), or progressing to genotyping if sufficient DNA is there - or WGS. Some customers will undoubtedly prefer WGS as it provides everything you could possibly want to know about the person’s genome, both chromosomal and mitochondrial.

In gratitude to our existing customers, they will be offered a significant discount if they wish to pursue WGS moving forward.

We are also offering other artefact testing, on a case by case basis.

Our website has more detail about these options.