YOUNGSTERS will take part in a event to mark National Science and Engineering Week in the city tomorrow.

The popular Men in White event will be held at Peninsula Medical School — and this year it is sharing science with Year 9 students from local schools.

In its fifth year, the Men in White initiative sees researchers at the medical school opening the doors of their laboratories to students in a bid to encourage more young people to pursue science as a career.

For the second year in a row the event will take place over two days and is inviting more schools than ever before.

More than 150 students are taking part including some from Exeter School, Coombeshead College, Exmouth Community College, Honiton Community College, Dawlish College, Queen Elizabeth Community College in Crediton and Sidmouth Community College.

The event will see students extracting DNA from bananas and looking at what goes on in the diabetes clinic.

Organiser Dr Lorna Harries said: "We've been really heartened by the reception Men in White has received from sixth-form students at local schools, but we thought we would ring the changes this year by extending the invitation to Year 9 students.

"We hope that we will encourage as many as possible to think about science for their careers and, despite calling the event Men in White, that we will prove that scientists are fun, funky and not all men."