Helicos Biosciences
Helicos BioSciences Corporation, NASDAQ: HLCS 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.
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.
In the August 2009 issue of Nature Biotechnology, Dr. Stephen Quake, a professor of bioengineering at Stanford University and a co-founder of Helicos BioSciences, sequenced his own genome, using Single Molecule Sequencing for under $50,000 in reagents.[1]
On November 2012, Helicos BioSciences filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.[citation needed]
References
- ^ Daniel MacArthur (August 2009). "Helicos co-founder sequences own genome using single-molecule technology". Wired. Retrieved 2009-08-10.
External links
- Helicos BioSciences Corp. firm website
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