STUDENTS from schools across Devon, Dorset and Somerset – including Coombeshead Academy, Newton Abbot, and South Dartmoor Community College, Ashburton – received a hands-on experience in university laboratories this week.

A crack team of nearly 150 science sleuths used genetic processes, frequently seen in TV crime shows, to help solve a mystery.

The students tackled a scenario in which scandal has erupted on the Devon sporting scene as previously unknown athletes smash all known records.

Police call on the only team who can scrutinise a mysterious yeast found in the athletes bag: The X-Men in White.

The budding scientists worked with special operatives from the University of Exeter Medical School.

By using genetics the group had to identify which of three supervillains was guilty of rigging the county’s premier sporting event by doping runners.

Prof Lorna Harries, one of the organisers of the event which is now in its 11th year, said: ‘This is a fun, interactive way to gain a real understanding of some complex scientific concepts.

‘The pupils work alongside real scientists, and we want to bust some myths that we’re all fuddy-duddy men in white coats.’