The handsome multi-story Stevenage laboratory building is surrounded by spacious grounds with lush perennial gardens and a lily pond.
Security is intense.
Vehicles must pass a gate, and visitors undergo a second check on entering the building. When on the premises, everyone must don a full white lab suit and wear a name badge. They are called capillary machines because of this network's similarity to the tiniest human blood vessels. Despite all the activity in DNA sequencing, most of the lab's activities are disease study-related. Today, some 18 countries participate in the Human Genome Project .