OXFORD University will get £5m to help study how damaged genes can be repaired to tackle common blood disorders.

The cash will go to a new Centre of Single Cell Biology (CSCB) to study inherited red blood cell disorders.

The university said these are among the most common genetic diseases, which affect about 16,000 UK people.

It hopes repairing damaged genes will help avoid costly supportive care and treatment like blood transfusions.

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Spokesman Jonathan Wood said: “This programme is one example of many projects in development across the campus which will be greatly facilitated by the development of improved single cell research capabilities.”

The university, through Professor Simon Lovestone and Dr Clare MacKay, are also part of the UK Dementias Research Platform, to get £36.8m.

This is studying data from about two million people to “try and discover the causes of dementia and to find out ways of slowing it down”.

The cash has come from £150m of clinical research funding announced on Friday by Chancellor George Osborne.

He said: “The UK is already a world leader in science and research, which is why at the budget, I protected science spending.

“Today we go a step further by announcing £150 million of new investment in clinical research infrastructure.”

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