Scientists from Cranfield Health will start work next year on finding a treatment to alleviate the symptoms of sickle cell disease (SCD).
Current treatments work by re-activating the gamma-globin gene, which is normally switched off from birth.
While effective, this indirectly kills cells in the body.
Dr Dave Carter and Dr Ryan Pink from Cranfield Health believe that the gamma-globin gene can be switched back on without it affecting other genes or killing cells.
Sickle cell disease (SCD) is an inherited blood disorder that affects red blood cells.
Sufferers' red blood cells contain an abnormal type of haemoglobin.
Sometimes these red blood cells become sickle - or crescent - shaped and so have difficulty passing through small blood vessels.
When these sickle-shaped cells block blood vessels, less blood can reach that part of the body.
Tissue that does not receive a normal blood flow eventually becomes damaged and causes the complications of sickle cell disease.
Large blockages damage organs the most and often result in complications such as strokes.
There are about 12,500 suffers of SCD in the UK and about 20-25 million worldwide.
There is currently no universal cure for the disease.
Funded by Action Medical Research, the technique being developed by Cranfield Health will be used on blood cells grown outside the body and, if successful, may eventually be used to reduce the symptoms in SCD patients.
