What to do with your Dante Labs files

The three files in your Genome Manager

Dante's product pages promise "unrestricted access to your BAM, VCF, and FASTQ files", downloadable from the portal it calls Genome Manager. Each is the same genome at a different stage of processing, and each is a different size.

• The VCF is the list of positions where you differ from the reference genome, usually well under a gigabyte. It is what Dante's own reports were generated from, and it is the file for the $39 full report here: clinical findings, carrier status, the wider ClinVar screen across 1,363 more carrier genes, pharmacogenomics from the variants a VCF can carry, traits, ancestry and the polygenic scores.
• The BAM is the aligned reads, tens of gigabytes. It records what the sequencer saw at every position, which is why it can answer two things a VCF cannot: whether a gene was actually covered, and what the structurally awkward pharmacogenes such as CYP2D6 look like. That is the $49 Deep Read panel. You do not upload the whole BAM; the browser sends only the slices the panel reads.
• The FASTQ is the unaligned reads. We do not use it. Keep it anyway; it is the only file from which everything else can be rebuilt.

Dante does not state on its pages which reference build its files are on, and Dante files have arrived here on both GRCh37 and GRCh38, depending on when the genome was sequenced. Nothing is asked of you: the file check reads the build from the header and a GRCh37 file is lifted before analysis. The lift is the slow part. A GRCh38 VCF is usually ready in about a quarter of an hour; a large GRCh37 file can take a couple of hours.

What a second reading adds

Dante's reports are one interpretation, made once, on the day they were generated. ClinVar and the CPIC guidelines have moved since then, and they keep moving. A re-analysis here reads the same VCF against the current pinned versions of those sources, prints the version of each one on your report, and lists every gene, condition and trait examined by name before you pay. Where the file cannot answer, the report says so instead of guessing: a variant-only VCF cannot tell "you are clear" from "nobody looked", so a clean result from it is reported as absent, never as examined and clear.

The BAM changes that. Deep Read measures depth across every region of the curated panel and counts the bases covered at 10x or better, so each gene comes back examined, partly examined, or not measured. The same reads resolve CYP2D6 copy number, call two recurrent deletions, type HLA-DQ, and drive the 29-gene pharmacogenomic panel to CPIC star-allele resolution, ending in a one-page hand-off you can take to a prescriber. If the reads are too thin for a gene, the panel declines that gene rather than calling it.

Where Dante Labs stands today

This is history, not a warning, and every line of it is checkable. Dante Labs sold consumer whole-genome sequencing from Italy for years and was, for many people in Europe, the default way to get a 30x genome. On 23 December 2024 the law firm Clyde & Co announced that it had advised Bio Cell Tech FZCO, a company registered in the United Arab Emirates, on its acquisition of Dante Labs Genomics FZE, and that the acquired company had been renamed Lifespan Genomics Labs FZCO. The consumer site at dantelabs.com carries no notice of the change and still sells the 30x test.

Dante's own privacy policy says genetic information is kept for the life of the account plus up to three years after deletion, and that the biological sample is destroyed after sequencing unless you opt into storage. Its FAQ gives a different figure, ten years after deactivation, for personal data. We are not in a position to reconcile the two. The practical point is simpler: the copies of your files that you hold are the ones you control, so download them while the portal serves them, and keep them somewhere you own.

How to get your files out of Dante

1. Sign in to your Dante Labs account and open the Genome Manager.
2. Download the VCF first. It is the small file and the one the full report needs.
3. Download the BAM and its index if you want the Deep Read panel. It is large, so give it a wired connection and time. Dante's FAQ says raw files can be "requested or downloaded where available", so if a download is not offered, ask their support for it.
4. Store both somewhere private that you control. Do not rename, unpack or convert them; upload them as Dante delivered them.

Dante's download process is described from its public pages on 3 September 2026 and may change. We do not speak for Dante.

Your files do not leave the EU

Processing and storage are in Finland, under GDPR Article 9 special-category protection, and nothing crosses an EU border. The VCF you upload is deleted after analysis by default; the BAM slices are deleted the moment the Deep Read run finishes, whether it succeeded or failed. What we keep, with your consent and only if you want re-analysis later, is a small normalised variant file that you can delete from your dashboard at any time. Security & your data.

Common questions

Which of my Dante Labs files should I upload?

The VCF for the full report, and the BAM as well if you want the Deep Read pharmacogenomic panel. The FASTQ is the unaligned raw reads and we do not use it. If you are not sure which file is which, open it on the file check below: it reads the header in your browser and names the file.

Is my Dante file on GRCh37 or GRCh38?

Dante does not say on its pages, and files from different years have arrived here on both builds. It does not matter for the upload: the file check reads the build from the header, and a GRCh37 file is lifted to GRCh38 before analysis. A GRCh37 file takes longer, up to a couple of hours for a large one.

Do I get anything Dante's own reports did not give me?

A second, independent reading of the same file against current ClinVar, ACMG and CPIC guidance, with every finding attributed to its source and the panel listed by name before you pay. With the BAM, Deep Read resolves CYP2D6 copy number, reports gene by gene how much of each gene was actually covered, calls two recurrent deletions from depth and types HLA-DQ; the 29-gene pharmacogenomic panel is called from the same reads.

Who owns Dante Labs now?

In December 2024 the law firm advising the buyer announced that Bio Cell Tech FZCO, a company registered in the United Arab Emirates, had acquired Dante Labs Genomics FZE and renamed it Lifespan Genomics Labs FZCO. The consumer site carries no notice of the change. We state it because a customer deciding where a copy of their genome should live is entitled to know who holds the original.

Do you keep my genome?

The uploaded file is processed and stored in Finland and deleted after analysis by default. Reads for the Deep Read panel are deleted the moment the run finishes. Nothing leaves the EU, and there is no Aimosti genome vault to be sold on.

Sequenced elsewhere? Nebula and DNA Complete files · Sequencing.com files · Nucleus files · What your reads add, whoever sequenced you