BECON MEETING MINUTES
July 18, 2001

The Bioengineering Consortium (BECON) met from 3:00 to 5:15 PM on Wednesday, July 18, 2001, in Room 151of Building 1 on the NIH Main Campus. The meeting was an entirely closed session that primarily addressed the status of Bioengineering Research Partnerships (BRP's) and referral criteria for the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering NIBIB). The following text provides the minutes of this meeting.

BRP Grant Status - Summaries of the status of BRP applications that were considered during the January 2001 and May 2001 councils were distributed and reviewed by the BECON.

BRP Letters of Intent - A list of letters of intent received for the August 14 BRP application deadline was distributed and discussed at the meeting.

BECON 2001 Reparative Medicine Meeting - The Reparative Medicine Symposium (BECON 2001) was conducted on June 25-26 at the Natcher Conference Center. About 480 participants attended the meeting, and a summary report is in preparation. When the report is complete, a hard copy will be prepared, and it will be posted on the BECON Web site. A draft copy of a list of NIH research opportunities for reparative medicine and tissue engineering (similar to the summary prepared following the BECON 2002 Nanotechnology Symposium) was distributed at the meeting and will be posted in the "NIH Guide" when ready.

BECON 2002 Biosensor Symposium - The BECON 2002 Symposium co-chairs met to plan a course of action for the meeting, and active meeting planning activities will begin in the near future.

NIH/NSF Bioengineering Training Workshop - A joint NIH/NSF Workshop on Bioengineering and Bioinformatics Training and Education was held on June 13-14 at NSF Headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. A report summarizing discussions and recommendations is in preparation and is scheduled for completion in early August. This report will be distributed to BECON members, posted on the BECON Web site, and used as a basis for consideration of NIH and NSF collaborative training initiatives. .

NIBIB Referral Criteria - Discussion concerning NIBIB application referral criteria was the primary item of discussion at this meeting. Suggestions for referral guidelines and a course of action were developed.

BECON Chair Suggestions - Selection of a chair for the BECON as it transitions into the NIBIB were discussed.

Next BECON Meeting - The next BECON meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, August 22, from 3:30 to 5:00 PM in Room 151 of Building l on the NIH Main Campus. A preliminary agenda will be available about a week before the meeting.