This Consortium was recently created by the South Coast Air Quality Management District to further research addressing the underlying basis and causation of asthma associated with air pollutants, placing emphasis on the mechanistic basis of exposure related health effects, on research which provides additional insights into the sources of pollution responsible for asthma, and on creating greater knowledge of dose-response relationships. The Consortium is based at UCLA and includes researchers from UC Irvine, UC Riverside, USC, Loma Linda, and Rancho Los Amigos.