Many persons with asthma are also allergic to common fungi and mold, and a reaction to those allergens can exacerbate asthma symptoms. Researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham have received a $1.75 million, four-year grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, one of the National Institutes of Health, to better understand how a fungal reaction affects asthma and to search for ways to interfere in that process and reduce the severity of fungal asthma.