NHGRI’s “$1000 Genome Sequencing Technology Development” Program supports Helicos’ technology initiatives

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Helicos BioSciences Corporation (NASDAQ: HLCS) announced today that it is the recipient of an award from the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The two year grant, totaling $2.9 Million, is part of the Sequencing Technology Development Program representing NHGRI’s Signature Project for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s effort to jumpstart the economy and create or save millions of jobs. This project, a part of NIH’s “Grand Opportunities” program, is designed to support large-scale, high impact research projects that are expected to accelerate critical scientific breakthroughs and enable growth and investment in biomedical research and development.

“This grant will fund research on the chemistry and molecular biology underlying the Helicos System. We expect to make continuous improvements to the core technology that will increase throughput and accuracy of the System without any hardware changes,” stated John Thompson, Principal Investigator for the grant. “We believe that lower cost sequencing will lead to a better understanding of the biological mechanisms underlying disease states, and ultimately aid in identifying new ways to diagnose, treat and prevent human disease. We see a future in which all scientists, physicians, and patients will be able to benefit from readily available human genome sequences.”

The Helicos® Genetic Analysis System is the world’s first and only commercially available, single molecule sequencing technology. It enables scientists to conduct revolutionary studies in the fields of genome biology, cancer research, common diseases, and microbiology without DNA ligation or amplification. Genetic analysis with Helicos’ technology eliminates the biases, complexity and errors introduced by nucleic acid amplification, requires minute amounts of starting material, and provides the most direct and accurate view of the genome.

“New as well as existing customers who have already purchased a Helicos System will be able to take advantage of the future versions of single molecule chemistry to generate more sequence data with the same hardware. Customers are already benefitting from the throughput, simple sample preparation protocols and low sample input requirements that our single molecule technology allows,” described Ron Lowy, CEO of Helicos. “NHGRI’s leadership role in stimulating research in sequencing technology has helped to accelerate progress, and we are proud to be recipients of this award.”

About Helicos BioSciences:

Helicos BioSciences is a life science company focused on innovative genetic analysis technologies for the research, drug discovery, and diagnostic markets. Helicos’ proprietary True Single Molecule Sequencing, tSMS(TM), technology allows direct measurement of billions of strands of DNA enabling scientists to perform experiments and ask questions never before possible. Helicos is a recipient of two $1,000 genome grants and committed to providing scientists the tools to unlock the era of genomic medicine. The company’s corporate headquarters are located at One Kendall Square, Building 700, Cambridge, MA 02139, and its telephone number is (617) 264-1800. For more information, please visit www.helicosbio.com

Certain statements made in this press release that are not based on historical information are forward-looking statements which are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. This press release contains express or implied forward-looking statements relating to the commercial and scientific outcome of the research and technology optimization initiatives discussed in this press release, and management’s plans, objectives and strategies. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond Helicos’ control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those contemplated in these forward-looking statements. In particular, the risks and uncertainties include, among other things, our ability to successfully complete and/or scale the manufacturing and commercialization process for the Helicos Genetic Analysis System; our history of operating losses and ability to achieve profitability; our ability to sustain and scale our manufacturing capabilities; the research and development spending levels of academic, clinical and governmental research institutions and pharmaceutical, biotechnology and agriculture companies who may purchase our Helicos Genetic Analysis System; our reliance on third-party suppliers; competition; changing technology and customer requirements; our ability to operate in an emerging market; market acceptance of our technology; the length of our sales and implementation cycles; our dependence on large contracts for the sale and implementation of our Helicos Genetic Analysis System; failure of our technology and products; our ability to maintain customer relationships and contracts; ethical, legal and social concerns surrounding the use of genetic information; our ability to retain our personnel and hire additional skilled personnel; our ability to manage our growth while operating with limited resources; our ability to control our operating expenses; general economic and business conditions; our ability to obtain capital when desired on favorable terms; and the volatility of the market price of our common stock. Existing and prospective investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. Helicos undertakes no obligation to update or revise the information contained in this press release, whether as a result of new information, future events or circumstances or otherwise. For additional disclosure regarding these and other risks faced by Helicos, see the disclosure contained in Helicos’ public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.