SAN DIEGO -- Researchers at Illumina in University City manufacture the machines that allow scientists to break down DNA.

For Illumina and its other high-tech biotech neighbors, business is good

Illumina researcher Giovanna Prout said, "Most of these companies right now are doing fairly well in this economic situation that were having."

Prout said science in San Diego usually means a job that could earn a new Ph.D upwards of $100,000 per year.

"If you go to college here, you have a really good opportunity of actually staying here and finding a job here, too," said Prout.

But therein lies the problem.

These days, not enough local students are interested in science and math.

Lt. Gov. John Garamendi said, "We're losing 25 percent of all of our high school students. They don't even graduate."

San Diego scientists and educators hope to change that next month with the San Diego Science Festival 2009. The event looks to get kids excited about science, to stick with science through college and eventually into San Diego's biotech workforce.

"It is the growth industry in San Diego County. It is the foundation," said Garamendi.

Prout followed that path, majoring in bio-engineering at the University of California, San Diego.

"I learned a lot about biology and genetics, but also mechanical engineering and electrical engineering," said Prout.

Those are subjects scientists hope to inject into a student's DNA.