How to Order and Ship
Follow this guide to order your testing and identify appropriate sample collection and shipping measures.
Ordering a Test in 4 Steps
1. Online Ordering Portal
Browse our online test catalogue on CentoPortal® and select a test.
Alternatively, download and fill our request form.
2. Consent
Fill out your sender information, patient, and billing data, then sign the consent
3. Specimen Collection
Collect the required amount of samples, preferably using CentoCard®
4. Sending
Send your sample to CENTOGENE
Please note: Clearly mark your sample with unique identifier(s), last and first name, and DOB.
Specimen Requirements
Our laboratory can accept a wide range of biological specimens, which is dependent on the type of analysis. The following material types are accepted per anaylsis category. Please note that high quality specimens are required to avoid significant degradation which may result in failed or incorrect analyses.
If samples are visibly damaged, they may be rejected. For prenatal and other time-sensitive specimen, please feel free to notify us via e-mail at customer.support@centogene.com and contact us for any questions.
This category refers to our CentoXome (WES) and CentoGenome (WGS) products. For prenatal sample requirements, please refer to Prenatal & Products of Conception Testing. Specimen requirements for MOx products are listed under Multiomic Testing (MOx).
| Accepted Material | Quantity |
|---|---|
| CentoCard® (preferred) | 1 filter card (10 complete blood spots) |
| EDTA Blood | ≥ 1 ml |
| Buccal swab | 1 ORAcollect kit |
| Saliva | 1 ORAgene kit |
| Ready-to-use DNA (extracted DNA) | ≥ 1 µg |
| Tissue sample | ≥ 20 mg |
This category refers to the products CentoMetabolic MOx, as well as CentoXome and CentoGenome MOx 1.0 and 2.0.
| Accepted Material | Quantity |
|---|---|
| CentoCard® (preferred) | 1 filter card (10 complete blood spots) |
| EDTA Blood | ≥ 2 ml |
Exceptions: Please note for MOx 2.0 products (including RNA-seq) CentoCard is required. To ensure proper analysis, the card needs to arrive at CENTOGENE within 7 days or less after sample preparation. For more information on CentoCard handling, please visit CentoCard.
An overview of our panel products can be found here.
| Accepted Material | Quantity |
|---|---|
| CentoCard® (preferred) | 1 filter card (10 complete blood spots) |
| EDTA Blood | ≥ 1 ml |
| Buccal swab | 1 ORAcollect kit |
| Saliva | 1 ORAgene kit |
| Ready-to-use DNA (extracted DNA) | ≥ 1 µg |
Exceptions: For Solid tumor panel and BRCA1/2 somatic testing, we can only accept FFPE material or tissue. For Myeloid tumor panel, we can only accept bone marrow aspirate or blood. The preferred material types for Ataxia repeat expansion panel & Ataxia/Spastic paraplegia comprehensive panel are CentoCard®, EDTA blood, or ready-to-use DNA. When the latter are not available, a quantity of 3 samples of saliva or buccal swab are required.
This category refers to the product CentoArray. See the section Prenatal & Products of Conception Testing for material requirements for the product CentoArray Prenatal and CentoArray POC.
| Accepted Material | Quantity |
|---|---|
| CentoCard® (preferred) | 1 filter card (10 complete blood spots) |
| EDTA Blood | ≥ 1 ml |
| Buccal swab | 1 ORAcollect kit |
| Saliva | 1 ORAgene kit |
| Ready-to-use DNA (extracted DNA) | ≥ 1 µg |
This category lists the accepted material for single gene analysis using the methods Sanger sequencing, NGS, MLPA, qPCR, and repeat expansion analysis. These requirements also apply to targeted variant testing. Please note that saliva samples are not accepted for qPCR or repeat expansion analyses.
| Accepted Material | Quantity |
|---|---|
| CentoCard® (preferred) | 1 filter card (10 complete blood spots) |
| EDTA Blood | ≥ 1 ml |
| Buccal swab | 1 ORAcollect kit |
| Saliva | 1 ORAgene kit |
| Ready-to-use DNA (extracted DNA) | ≥ 1 µg |
Exceptions: For IKBKG gene analysis, we only accept EDTA blood or CentoCard®.
This category lists the material accepted for enzyme activity testing and metabolic biomarker measurement. An overview of our biochemical portfolio can be found here.
| Accepted Material | Quantity |
|---|---|
| CentoCard® (preferred) | 1 filter card (10 complete blood spots) |
| EDTA Blood | ≥ 2 ml |
Please ensure that all clinical materials are collected with the highest level of attention. In particular, a sterile environment has to be maintained when sampling amniotic fluid or chorionic villi. For fetal samples, the presence of blood and/or maternal material should be minimized to ensure the best quality results. Tissues should be preserved in saline. Please note that FFPE or fixed tissues will not be accepted.
For further details on prenatal analysis please visit: Prenatal Genetic Testing.
| Accepted Material | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Amniotic fluid | ≥ 10 ml |
| Chorionic villi | ≥ 10 ml cleaned villi |
| Cultured cells (fibroblasts, chorionic villi cells, amniotic cells) | 1 flask, min. 25 cm2, 80–90% confluent |
| Cord blood | ≥ 1 ml |
| Ready-to-use DNA (extracted DNA) | ≥ 1 ug |
| Additional Material for Products of Conception/Pregnancy Loss (POC) | |
| Biopsy material | ≥ 20mg |
| Tissue sample | ≥ 20 mg |
| Maternal Contamination Marker (MCC) | |
| EDTA blood | ≥ 1 ml |
| CentoCard® | 1 filter card |
| Ready-to-use DNA (extracted DNA) | ≥ 1 µg |
Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NIPT) requires maternal blood for fetal cell-free DNA extraction. For more product details please visit: CentoNIPT®
| Accepted Material | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Maternal blood | 10 ml blood in cell-free DNA BCT STRECK tubes |
Information Required for Successful Testing
Clinical Anamnesis
To ensure the highest-quality interpretation of genetic data, we require detailed clinical information about the patient and ideally also family members.
Several studies have shown that high quality clinical information improves diagnostic yield (Bertoli-Avella et al. 2020, PMID: 32860008; Köhler et al. 2019).
Sample Labeling
For unique identification, the sample material must be labeled with:
- Unique identifier and/or patient’s full name
- Patient’s date of birth
Accompanying Requisition Form
To process your sample without additional clarification, we need the following information:
- Contact details of ordering physician/healthcare provider
- Contact details of report recipient
- Contact details of invoice recipient if differing from report recipient
- Patient demographics
- Clinical and family history information of patient
- Test(s) requested
- Signed, completed consent form
- Payment option – Please find payment options and required forms here.
Specimen Condition and Shipment
All clinical materials should be collected with approved methods to avoid contamination and cross contamination. A sterile environment must be maintained, particularly when collecting samples of fibroblasts, amniotic fluid or chorionic villi. The table below lists detailed information about sample preparation and transport.
Samples should be sent to:
CENTOGENE GmbH
Am Strande 7
18055 Rostock
GERMANY
Important Information
For all countries except Germany, we require a written and signed statement including the complete address and name of the person or institution that will cover the cost of analysis. For time-sensitive specimen or any questions regarding CENTOGENE’s recommendations for sample preparation, please contact us.
Quantity: ≥ 10 ml
Shipment: Ambient temperature
Transport stability: 24 hours
Amniotic fluid should be sent in a sterile conical tube overnight. Please use parafilm to safe sealed the falcon tubes. Care must be taken to ensure that the sample does not freeze. For time-sensitive specimen, please feel free to notify us via e-mail at customer.support@centogene.com
Quantity: 1 ml
Shipment: Ambient temperature
Transport stability: 4 days
Bone marrow aspirate should be collected in EDTA tubes. Care must be taken to ensure that the sample does not freeze.
Quantity: ≥ 20 mg
Shipment: Ambient temperature (4–30°C for a short period of time)
Transport stability: 4 days
To enable cultivation of biopsy material, the best practice is to ship the material in fetal bovine or calf serum. In addition, biopsy material can also be preserved in saline solution with high level of glucose. To increase the probability of the highest quality results, minimize the presence of blood and/or maternal material in samples of pregnancy loss.
Quantity: ≥ 1 swab
Accepted buccal swab types: ORAcollect kit (i.e., OCR-100, or OCD-100)
Shipment: Ambient temperature via regular mail
Transport stability: 4 days
Donors should not eat, drink, smoke or chew gum for 30 minutes before collecting oral sample to ensure high sample quality and avoid sample contamination.
Exceptions: 3 swabs are required for Ataxia comprehensive panel and Ataxia repeat expansion panel
Quantity: 1 flask, min 25 cm2, 80–90% confluent
Cell types: Fibroblasts, chorionic villi cells, amniotic fluid cells
Shipment: Ambient temperature
Transport stability: 4 days
Prepare the cells in 25 ml flasks that are completely filled with fetal bovine medium or calf serum transport medium. For transport stability it is crucial to avoid excessive cell growth. To ensure slow proliferation and avoid cell apoptosis, we recommend shipping the sample no longer than 4 days in a medium containing 2% serum. Securely seal the flask with parafilm and ship at ambient temperature. Care must be taken to ensure that the sample does not freeze.
Quantity: 1 CentoCard® contains 10 filled blood spots, each filled with ~ 50 µl blood (EDTA blood preferred)
Shipment: Ambient temperature via regular mail
Storage: ≤ 25°C, keep dry and away from sunlight.
MOx 2.0 analyses require the card to be received within 7 days after card preparation.
Ensure preparation on a clean and dry surface, accurate drying time is curial to ensure best quality and avoid sample contamination. For more details, please visit: CentoCard®.
Quantity: ≥ 10 cleaned villi
Shipment: Ambient temperature overnight
Transport stability: 24 hours
Prepare the shipment in a sterile conical tube. Please use parafilm to safe sealed the falcon tubes. Care must be taken to ensure that the sample does not freeze. For time-sensitive specimen, please feel free to notify us via e-mail at customer.support@centogene.com.
Quantity: ≥ 1 ml
Shipment: Ambient temperature
Cord blood in EDTA tubes is stable for up to 4 days during transport.
Quantity: ≥ 1 ml
Shipment: Ambient temperature
EDTA blood is stable for up to 4 days during transport.
Quantity: 1 block, ≥ 10 sections of 10 µm thickness (uncharged slides without additives) and control slide with clearly marked area of enriched tumor
Shipment: Ambient temperature
We recommend to use paraffin Paraplast Bulk. The fixation period is very important and critical, Formol 10% for 12–24 hours (maximal) at pH 7.
Quantity: ≥ 1 µg
Shipment: Ambient temperature via regular mail
For DNA samples we recommend extraction with Qiagen kits, elution in water or AE buffer in a minimum volume of 20 µl. 260/280 ratio between 1.6–2.1 and a concentration of > 10 µl/ng determined by fluorescent dye quantification.
Quantity: ≥ 1 collection set
Shipment: Ambient temperature via regular mail
Accepted sets: ORAgene kit (i.e., OG-610, OG-675, OG-610, ON-600, OG-500, OG-510, ON-500, or OG-575)
Donor should not eat, drink, smoke or chew gum for 30 minutes before collecting oral sample to ensure high sample quality and avoid contamination.
Exceptions: 3 collection sets are required for Ataxia comprehensive panel and Ataxia repeat expansion panel
Quantity: Sample size ≥ 20 mg
Shipment: Ambient temperature in a minimum of 35 ml of RPMI transport medium with fetal bovine medium or calf serum.
Temperature should not fall below +4°C to avoid damage to the cells.
CentoPortal® – Designed to Assist You at Every Step of Processing Your Patients’ Samples
CENTOGENE’s Logistics Service
Simplifying International Shipping of Biological Samples
Shipping biological samples across international borders can be a daunting and complex task. At CENTOGENE, we understand the importance of timely and reliable transportation of biological samples to enable a diagnosis and accelerate treatment options.
To help ease the stress of booking the pick-up of biological samples from your institution to CENTOGENE, we have launched a new logistics service.1 Our logistics service is designed to simplify the entire process – making your life easier.
To get started, simply fill in the information form below to send us your request and take advantage of this service. Once we receive your request, our team will generate an account for you to use. You will then receive a follow-up email containing a link and all relevant information to help you get started.
Only 4 Steps After Submitting to Our Logistic Service
1. DHL Login
2. Shipment details
3. Book a shipment
4. Pickup
Get in Touch With Our Customer Support
Our consultation service is available in several languages.
+49 (0) 381 80 113 - 416
Mon. – Fri. 7 a.m. – 6:30 p.m. CET
Sat. 8 a.m. – 12 p.m. CET
Disclaimer
1. To ensure the quality of your products during transportation, it is important that the packaging used has no negative impact and provides sufficient protection against external factors. The packaging should allow for easy identification of its contents and their origin. Please note that CENTOGENE will not be held liable for any loss or damage resulting from improper packaging. We recommend following DHL's guidelines on shipping and delivery and choosing packaging configurations accordingly.