CAMBRIDGE, Mass.–Helicos BioSciences Corporation (NASDAQ:HLCS – News) today announced that Bill Efcavitch, Ph.D., has been named Helicos chief technology officer, Marc Levine has joined Helicos as senior vice president of product development and Stan Letovsky, Ph.D. has joined as vice president for scientific informatics — three personnel moves aimed at accelerating the company’s research and development program.

As the new CTO, Efcavitch has been given a charter to advance Helicos’ single molecule sequencing chemistry program. Efcavitch brings an extraordinary blend of skills to the CTO position, including expertise in nucleic acid synthesis, bioanalytical instrumentation and DNA sequencing product development.

“Bill’s world-class scientific acumen and leadership savvy represent invaluable assets for the Helicos management team as the company evolves its True Single Molecule Sequencing (tSMS)™ chemistry toward ‘$1,000 genome’ performance,” remarked Steve Lombardi, Helicos president and chief executive officer.

Before taking over as CTO, Efcavitch had been Helicos’ senior vice president of product development since 2004. Prior to joining Helicos, Efcavitch spent 23 years at Applied Biosystems, where he contributed significantly to the development of numerous reagent and instrument products as a senior R&D and business executive. His experience includes eight years leading Applied Biosystems’ DNA sequencing group, which developed the model 3700 DNA Sequencer, the technology that enabled the completion of the worldwide Human Genome Project.

Filling the senior vice president of product development position for Helicos is Marc Levine, an R&D executive from the semiconductor industry with 27 years experience in developing and commercializing complex capital equipment. Levine’s experience prior to joining Helicos in June 2008 includes 25 years with Teradyne, where his roles in the company ranged from sales and customer service to engineering and general management. Levine established a strong track record of innovation at Teradyne, where he created and led an internal start-up venture aimed at developing a new semiconductor test product with a market-disrupting technology. He built the venture into a new division of the company that generated over $200 million in annual revenue three years after product introduction.

Helicos has also added veteran bioinformatics executive Stan Letovsky, Ph.D., as vice president for scientific informatics. Letovsky will oversee efforts to develop the computational and data analysis platform of the Helicos™ Genetic Analysis System, as well as build Helicos’ scientific computing infrastructure and help drive the company’s open source initiative. Letovsky brings 20 years of industrial bioinformatics and academic experience to Helicos, and has held informatics management roles with Codon Devices, Millennium Pharmaceuticals and Monsanto, as well as an associate professor post at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

“Marc is a talented executive whose varied experience in the semiconductor industry meshes well with our plans for the evolution of Helicos’ tSMS™ technology,” Lombardi said. “Stan’s expertise in bioinformatics and computational biology in industry and academia will be important as we build commercial momentum. These new positions add strength to an already best-in-class R&D team.”

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)™ technology 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 the $1,000 genome grant and is 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, among other things, Helicos’ expectations concerning the personnel changes discussed in this press release, the utility of Helicos’ tSMS technology in molecular diagnostics 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 the manufacturing process and commercialize the Helicos Genetic Analysis System; competition; changing technology and customer requirements; our ability to operate in an emerging market; market acceptance of our technology; our ability to retain our personnel and hire additional skilled personnel; our ability to manage our rapid growth and our ability to obtain capital when desired on favorable terms. 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.