Helicos BioSciences Launched by Flagship Ventures

Flagship Ventures and Stan Lapidus, whose reputation as a repeat entrepreneur is well known in the biotech industry, have just launched Helicos BioSciences Corporation in Cambridge, MA. Other cofounders and advisors include several of the world's leading academics in the fields of DNA sequencing, cancer research and bioinformatics from Caltech, MIT, Stanford, Harvard and ISB. Stan spent the last 18 months with Flagship as a Venture Partner, helping a number of its portfolio companies grow while searching for a new venture creation challenge. Flagship has also been a founding investor of two of Lapidus' prior companies, Cytyc Corporation (CYTC) and EXACT Sciences Corporation (EXAS), both of which are now publicly traded enterprises. Beyond Stan (CEO) and Noubar Afeyan (Chairman), Flagship's involvement in bringing Helicos to life was extensive. A team of five worked for six months developing the business plan, licensing the technology, assembling a world-class scientific and advisory group, and finally raising the capital for a strong launch of the company. The intellectual property which underpins Helicos' leap into the marketplace is the result of grounbreaking work done by cofounder Stephen Quake of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California.