Helicos BioSciences Corporation was a publicly traded life science company headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts focused on genetic analysis technologies for the research, drug discovery and diagnostic markets. The firm's Helicos Genetic Analysis Platform was the first DNA-sequencing instrument to operate by imaging individual DNA molecules. In May 2010, the company announced a 50% layoff and a re-focusing on molecular diagnostics. After long financial troubles, in November 2010, Helicos was delisted from NASDAQ.[1]
Helicos was co-founded in 2003 by life science entrepreneur Stanley Lapidus, Stephen Quake, and Noubar Afeyan with investments from Atlas Venture, Flagship Ventures, Highland Capital Partners, MPM Capital, and Versant Ventures.
Helicos's technology images the extension of individual DNA molecules using a defined primer and individual fluorescently labeled nucleotides, which contain a "Virtual Terminator" preventing incorporation of multiple nucleotides per cycle. The "Virtual Terminator" technology was developed by Dr. Suhaib Siddiqi,[2] while at Helicos Biosciences.[3][4]
See also
- Single molecule fluorescent sequencing
- Pharmacogenomics
- Genetic counseling
- Genomics
External links
- Helicos BioSciences Corp. firm website (Now defunct after Bankruptcy)
References
- Helicos delisting notice sends shares falling Boston Business Journal, April 2010, retrieved 2013-07-29^
- ZS Genetics Team retrieved 2013-07-29^
- Jayson Bowers, Judith Mitchell, Eric Beer, Philip R. Buzby, Marie Causey, J William Efcavitch, Mirna Jarosz, Edyta Krzymanska-Olejnik. Virtual terminator nucleotides for next-generation DNA sequencing Nature Methods, 2009