CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Helicos BioSciences Corporation (NASDAQ: HLCS) announced today that it is the recipient of an award from the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The two year grant, totaling $2.9 Million, is part of the Sequencing Technology Development Program representing NHGRI’s Signature Project for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s effort to jumpstart the economy and create or save millions of jobs. This project, a part of NIH’s “Grand Opportunities” program, is designed to support large-scale, high impact research projects that are expected to accelerate critical scientific breakthroughs and enable growth and investment in biomedical research and development.