Helicos BioSciences Validates Commitment to Bioinformatics with Most Recent Addition to Scientific Advisory Board.

Bioinformatics Expert to Expand Prominent Board

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Helicos BioSciences, pioneering new frontiers in genetic analysis, today announced the addition of Eugene Myers, Ph.D. of the Janelia Farm Research Campus of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Ashburn, Virginia, to its scientific advisory board.

Dr. Myers, a group leader at Janelia Farm, joins Helicos' advisory board with extensive experience in genomic bioinformatics, including the initial proposal and eventual accomplishment of the whole genome shotgun sequencing of the Drosophila, Human, Mouse, and Anopheles genomes. As one of the first computer scientists to enter the field of computational molecular biology in the early 80's, Dr. Myers was instrumental in the development of BLAST and other similar search tools in the 1990's. Dr. Myers received his Ph.D. in computer science at the University of Colorado and has since authored more than 90 peer-reviewed articles and four patents. Currently, Dr. Myers is developing algorithms and software for the automatic interpretation of images produced by light and electron microscopy of stained samples with a particular emphasis on building 3D and 4D "atlases" of brains, developing organisms, and cellular processes.

"As Helicos continues its rapid growth, we recognize the need to continue to build a bioinformatics capability designed to fully support our efforts," said Stanley N. Lapidus, President and CEO of Helicos. "Gene's experience and expertise in this area will be immensely helpful in determining the appropriate avenues for our bioinformatics program."

Helicos demonstrated its commitment to finding the best possible bioinformatics solution with its November 9, 2006 Bioinformatics Forum, which included invited experts from major genome centers, cancer genomics laboratories, pharmaceutical companies and academic core labs. The forum allowed the group to examine where the next generation of sequencing can support new boundaries of science research through a discussion of operational workflow and bioinformatics tools. Based on the success and ideas that came from this initial Bioinformatics Forum, Helicos plans to hold another forum early this year.

"I am excited by the initial steps Helicos has taken to explore the options of how they can expand their bioinformatics program," said Gene. "Using my past experiences in this arena, I hope to be able to assist Helicos in their endeavors."

Welcoming Eugene are fellow Helicos Scientific Advisory Board members: Stephen Quake, Professor of Bioengineering, Stanford University; Leroy Hood, President, Institute for Systems Biology; Steven Chu, Director, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Milan Mrksich, Professor of Chemistry, University of Chicago; Donald Crothers, Professor and Chairman, Emeritus, Chemistry, Yale University; John Quackenbush, Professor of Biostatistics and Computational Biology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Professor of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics at the Harvard School of Public Health; and Dr. David Liu, Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University and an Associate Member of the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT.

About Helicos BioSciences

Helicos BioSciences Corporation began operations in February 2004, and has raised $67 million from a top-tier investment consortium to date. Helicos is developing instruments and reagents for the high-speed sequencing of DNA and RNA with the highest possible sensitivity. The Helicos technology, based on pioneering research of Dr. Stephen Quake of Stanford University, is covered by a broad portfolio of granted and filed patents. The company commenced early-access collaborations in 2006 to generate ground breaking scientific publications and start creating revenue, while planning to launch its first commercial systems in 2007.

About tSMS(TM)

tSMS(TM) is a technique that enables researchers to rapidly and accurately sequence individual molecules of DNA and RNA. This allows direct interrogation of the single molecule as opposed to an amplified population of molecules. tSMS holds enormous potential for elucidating the gamut of genetic aberrations in oncology, through the ability to serve as a universal detection system across a wide variety of applications for both DNA and RNA.

Examples of some of the applications tSMS will enable are whole tumor resequencing, quantitative transcriptional profiling, genome wide methylation studies, and candidate region resequencing.

The advantages of tSMS over amplified molecule sequencing include: no PCR bias, no errors introduced by amplification, and no dephasing issues commonly present in amplified molecule sequencing. In addition, tSMS promises the highest possible throughput and enables reagent cost savings on the order of 1,000 times less than Sanger sequencing.