Anyone heard of this site for DNA Testing?

[hollyd443]

http://www.laboklin.co.uk/laboklin/showGeneticTest.jsp?testID=8094 DNA testing lab in the UK? Just snooping around on the internet and came accross it. I'd only ever heard of Optigen in the US before? They seem to do mouth swabs (I think thats what Buccal Swabs are), not just blood tests?

[Sharon]

When I received the e-mail from this company I e-mailed Optigen to ask if they knew of them, this is what they had to say:

Subject: Re: Fw: RE: Familial Nephropathy and PRA prcd in English cocker Spaniel
     
Dear Sharon,
    Thank you very much for bringing this to our attention.  We have had no direct communication from this company on these subjects and it is not very clear to me what, exactly, they are claiming to be doing in the way of testing.  OptiGen is the exclusive licensee of a patent for prcd testing that has been granted in Europe and the UK and I have contacted our lawyers regarding their actions.  I hope no one gets fooled by them.
With Kind regards,
Sue

[Jane S]

I wrote to Optigen too as Laboklin have been mailing breeders in the UK and got a similar response to Sharon. I also contacted Laboklin to check whether they were licensed to offer these tests and they claimed that they had developed their own PRA test at exactly the same time as Cornell University (patent owners of the prcd_PRA test, licensed to Optigen) but did not register a patent. I also got a second email later saying that there was an error in previous communications and that they send samples to be processed at another external lab (not specified). The fact is Laboklin are not currently licensed to offer either the prcd_PRA test or the FN test in Europe so breeders need to beware

PS Optigen & Antagene both accept cheek swabs so Laboklin don't offer any advantages in this respect

[hollyd443]

Thats really interesting, thank you for that. 

Also, I didn't know that Optigen do a swab test, how does that work? Do they send you a kit and then you send it back? I'm hoping to have Roxy tested and would prefer to do a cheek swab than take her for a blood test (I hate needles!!  )

Thanks again for your answers 

- Holly -

[Jane S]

Also, I didn't know that Optigen do a swab test, how does that work? Do they send you a kit and then you send it back? I'm hoping to have Roxy tested and would prefer to do a cheek swab than take her for a blood test (I hate needles!!  )

Optigen don't supply swab kits but Antagene do (Antagene is one of Optigen's European agents for the prcd_PRA test as well as being licensed to offer the FN test in Europe). If you just want to do the PRA test, you can request a swab kit from Antagene, then order and pay for your test on Optigen's site, then follow the instructions for sending the sample to Antagene on their site (they will then send the extracted DNA on to Optigen)

[Bryning]

Hi Holly, I used cheeck swabs when I DNA tested Teal and Drake, if you pm me your address (I know I'll have it somewhere) I'll send you some swabs.

[hollyd443]

Thanks for that Nat, I've e-mailed you 

[Mazame]

Laboklin is a German lab. They have offered a PRA test for about 2 years and first, it costed half the price of the Optigen test. A Dutch breeder had her dogs tested first with Optigen and then with Laboklin and got the same results. We have another lab in France which is able to test PRA : Genindexe.

A French breeder told me that in fact, Optigen didin't have the exclusive license for this test in Europe except for the UK.

[Jane S]

A French breeder told me that in fact, Optigen didin't have the exclusive license for this test in Europe except for the UK.

Not true after January 2008 according to Optigen's website : http://www.optigen.com/opt9_europeanupdate8117.html

[Mazame]

Ok, she told me that before January 2008.