San Diego

The National Institutes of Health awarded $2.2 million to UC San Diego after naming it one of 12 centers nationwide that will research allergies, UCSD officials said Tuesday.

NIH awarded the money to UCSD, asking the institution to start up a study of asthma in the Indochinese population in San Diego. Asthma and allergic diseases are more prevalent among minorities, and researchers will try to determine if this is because of genetic or environmental reasons. Under the grant, UCSD researchers will also continue their work studying allergic inflammation and the formation of antibodies.

The NIH money will allow a “team of scientists to further investigate the underlying causes of asthma, and to apply their knowledge to benefit patients in San Diego and beyond,” said Dr. Stephen Wasserman, chairman of UCSD’s department of medicine and co-principal investigator of the NIH studies.

Dr. Hans L. Spiegelberg, a UCSD professor of pediatrics, will share responsibilities with Wasserman in heading the research. The two physicians will be joined by other members of UCSD’s department of medicine and pediatrics.

The NIH award is a three-year grant. Among the 12 institutions named nationwide, UCSD will be the first research center to investigate these diseases among the Indochinese population.