Document and Entity Information	9 Months Ended
Sep. 30, 2011	Nov. 01, 2011
Document and Entity Information
Entity Registrant Name	HELICOS BIOSCIENCES CORP
Entity Central Index Key	0001274563
Document Type	10-Q
Document Period End Date	Sep. 30, 2011
Amendment Flag	true
Amendment Description	This amendment on Form 10-Q/A is being filed to amend Helicos BioSciences Corporation's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2011, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on November 14, 2011 (the "Original Filing"). The purpose of the amendment is to correct a typographical error which resulted in the inadvertent omission of the word "no" from two sentences in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements. The error appeared on page 6 of the Original Filing, in the second-to-last sentence of the fifth paragraph under "Note 1. Nature of the Business and Basis of Presentation." This amendment corrects the sentence to read as follows: "There is no assurance that the Company will be successful in this litigation, even in the event of a favorable outcome in this litigation there can be no assurance that there will be any proceeds remaining for common shareholders, as a result of various arrangements in place with professional service providers, bridge lenders, licensors and others." The error also appeared at the top of page 15 of the Original Filing, in the third full sentence beginning "There is no assurance . . ." This amendment corrects the sentence to read as follows: "There is no assurance that we will be successful in this litigation, even in the event of a favorable outcome in this litigation there can be no assurance that there will be any proceeds remaining for common shareholders, as a result of various arrangements in place with professional service providers, bridge lenders, licensors and others." We are not amending any other part of the Original Filing. This Form 10-Q/A speaks as of the date of the Original Filing and does not reflect events that occurred subsequent to the date of the Original Filing.
Current Fiscal Year End Date	--12-31
Entity Current Reporting Status	Yes
Entity Filer Category	Smaller Reporting Company
Entity Common Stock, Shares Outstanding		87,234,155
Document Fiscal Year Focus	2011
Document Fiscal Period Focus	Q3

Description of changes contained within amended document.

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