The HeliScope™ Single Molecule Sequencer produces an unprecedented amount of sequence information, and the system’s powerful on-instrument image analysis system processes images at a rate that keeps pace with data generation. Twenty-eight terabytes of data storage and high-speed follow-on processing allow primary analysis and data transfer to complete with no interruption of instrument use between run time.

The system produces short read sequences of 25 to 35 nucleotides per template. Data is output in standard, application neutral formats to promote ease of data sharing and comparative analysis.

Helicos’ bioinformatics suite runs on the customer’s high-performance computing environment (not included with the Helicos™ Genetic Analysis System). The bioinformatics suite includes internally developed alignment methods tailored to the sequencer’s single and multi-pass sequencing modes. These methods allow short sequence fragments to be aligned to a long sequence reference without degrading specificity of the consensus.

All data and sequence analysis methods for the instrument are non-proprietary and will be made available through Helicos’ Open Source Software portal.