Human genome research. Robot picker (upper centre) as it selects bacterial colonies in petri dishes which contain human DNA for the Human Genome Project. The colonies are seen as white dots in agar nutrient medium here. Human DNA is placed in bacteria so that they clone (replicate) it as they reproduce. This is to increase the amount of DNA to workable amounts. The human genome project aims to find the DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) base sequence of all human genes. This will allow for improved drug design and a greater understanding of genetic diseases. Photographed at the Sanger Centre in Cambridge, England.