Helicos BioSciences Corporation (Helicos), has placed the Helicos Genetic Analysis System at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) with Drs. Tom Hudson and John McPherson, for the study of cancer genomics.

“We are very excited to be working with such a distinguished institution on the application of our technology to the study of cancer genomics”: said Ron Lowy, Helicos Chief Executive Officer.

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

“The translational cancer research we are conducting at our center can benefit greatly from the advantages of single molecule sequencing” stated Tom Hudson, President and Scientific Director of the OICR. “We hope to use this technology for the unbiased and comprehensive characterization of tumor samples to ultimately lead to discoveries that have a clinical impact.”