The NIH Bioengineering Consortium (BECON) met from 3-5 PM on April 19, 2000, in Room 151 of Building 1 on the NIH Main Campus. The meeting consisted of a closed business session followed by an open (public access) session on Department of Energy bioengineering programs. The following text summarizes items discussed during this meeting.

Closed Session (3-4 PM):

1. Office of Bioengineering and Bioimaging - The establishment package for the Office of Bioengineering and Bioimaging (OBB) was approved by Dr. Ruth Kirschstein, Acting Director of the NIH, on April 5, 2000. Subsequent to this approval, an expansion of the areas of technology encompassed by the OBB was discussed. A search for staff including a director for the OBB is underway.
   
   
2. Bioengineering and Tissue Engineering Grant Information - Summaries of NIH grants for tissue engineering and bioengineering from the CRISP system were distributed, and institute representatives were requested to review their grants for accuracy.
   
   
3. Nanotechnology Symposium - Plans for the June 25-26, 2000, Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Symposium are proceeding smoothly. Over 80 abstract submittals have been received, electronic registration is progressing, and current indications are that the 500 attendee limit will be met prior to the June 5 registration deadline.
   
   
4. BECON 2001 - The next annual BECON topical symposium is aimed at tissuegenesis and organogenesis. Dr. Lore Anne McNicol of the National Eye Institute and Dr. Christine Kelley of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute were named as intramural co-chairs for this conference. The conference is tentatively scheduled for late June 2001 at the Natcher Conference Center on the NIH Main Campus in Bethesda, Maryland.

Open Session (4-5 PM):

Dr. Michael Viola, Director of the Medical Sciences Division in the Department of Energy's Office of Science, made a presentation on "Biomedical Engineering Programs at the Department of Energy". Dr. Viola's talk covered the structure and missions of the DOE, funding profiles for the departments, national laboratory resources and capabilities, and the DOE bioengineering program. Several specific DOE-funded bioengineering projects of interest to the NIH were also described. Areas of possible collaboration and cooperation between the NIH and DOE were identified and discussed.