Oxford scientists have been awarded £170,000 for research into beating cancer.
Experts from Oxford University will use the money for a three-year study into how a genetic mutation within blood cells can lead to cancer, offering hope that new drugs could be designed to target the disease.
The researchers, led by Dr Jacqueline Boultwood, have been given the money by the blood cancer charity Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research.
The team identified a key gene known as SF3B1, which if mutated in blood cells, can cause myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS).
Patients with MDS often have anaemia, are vulnerable to infection and can go on to develop leukaemia.
Dr Boultwood said: “Our identification of frequent mutation of SF3B1 in MDS is critical to developing our understanding of this blood cancer.”
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