A meeting of the Bioengineering Consortium (BECON) was held on Wednesday, October 18, 2000, from 3-5 PM in Room 151 of Building l on the NIH Main Campus. The following text describes the proceedings of this meeting. Action items are italicized.

1. Update on OB³ and the National Institute on Bioimaging (Wendy Baldwin) -Congress is still in session, so there is still a possibility that the National Institute on Biomedical Imaging and Biomedical Engineering (HR.1795) could still be passed. The bill has passed the House, but has not moved through committee in the Senate. The bill would create a new institute of bioimaging and bioengineering at NIH.
   
   
2. BECON 2001 Reparative Medicine Symposium (Chris Kelley and Lore Anne McNicol) - The title for the June 25-26, 2001, symposium is "Reparative Medicine: Growing Tissues and Organs". The planning workshop for the symposium will be held on Monday, October 30.
   
   
3. Nanotechnology Activities (Jeff Schloss and Eleni Kousvelari) -


1. The draft of the June 2000 Nanotechnology Symposium report was sent to BECON members for review and comment.. Video clips from several of the sessions are available on the website.
   
   
2. There was discussion about the NIH involvement in the "Champions" initiative from the Nanoscale Science, Engineering and Technology (NSET) Subcommittee. It was decided that BECON members would recommend representatives to serve as a "Champion" spokesperson for each of the following areas: early detection and treatment of disease, improved implants, therapeutic delivery and communicable disease/biological threat detection.


4. Review Issues (Eileen Bradley) -


1. Eileen introduced Dr. Tracy Orr, the new SRA for BECON proposals.
   
   
2. The study sections for the BRP-2 for January 2001 councils have been scheduled.


5. Research Initiatives (Mollie Sourwine) -


1. CDs containing the full applications for the August 10 BRP-2 deadline were distributed.
   
   
2. The draft BRP-3 was sent out to all members and some comments were received. The revised BRP-3 will be placed on ENS in the next several weeks.
   
   
3. There was discussion about organizing an annual PI Meeting as outlined in the BRP PA.


6. NSF/NIH Collaboration (Sohi Rastegar and Warren Jones) - On October 10, representatives from NIH met with representatives from NSF to discuss a possible training collaboration.

The next BECON meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, November 14, from 3-5 PM in Room 151 of Building 1 on the NIH Main Campus. A preliminary agenda will be issued about a week before the meeting.