BECON MEETING MINUTES

BECON MEETING – August 21, 2002

Public Minutes

The NIH Bioengineering Consortium (BECON) met from 3 to 5 PM on Wednesday, August 21, 2002, in Room 151 of Building 1 on the NIH Main Campus in Bethesda, Maryland. The following text provides the minutes of this meeting.

NIBIB Referral Guidelines – A general discussion of the NIBIB application referral guidelines was conducted. NIBIB program staff is planning to meet with representatives of other NIH institutes and centers in the near future to discuss the guidelines relative to shared interests. Results of these discussions will be used to prepare the final NIBIB referral guidelines.

Status of BRP and BRG Applications – Summaries of BRP applications were distributed and discussed at the meeting.

BECON 2002 Symposium Summary – The BECON 2002 Symposium on Biosensors was conducted on June 24-25 at the Natcher Conference Center. Approximately 500 attendees participated in the meeting. The efforts of Dr’s Joan Harmon and Maren Laughlin, the NIH Co-chairs, and their coordinating committee were acknowledged by the BECON, and several members indicated that the symposium was very well-received by the attendees in particular and the bioengineering community in particular. Current efforts are aimed at collecting breakout session and plenary talk summaries for the symposium proceedings.

BECON 2003 - Planning has begun for the BECON 2003 Symposium on team science and multi-disciplinary research which is scheduled for late June 2003 at the Natcher Conference Center. A Conference Coordinating Committee has met several times and current efforts are aimed at planning an advisory committee meeting in the early Fall.

September BMIS Conference – The Bioengineering Materials and Implant Science (BMIS) Committee is planning a conference on factors related to implant health and retrieval at the University of Maryland on September 19-20, 2002.

The conference is aimed at providing information to patients on implant effects and retrieval, and recommendations related to related legislation. Registration is open and available electronically on the conference Web site at http://www.nibib.nih.gov/events/BMIS2002.htm .

International Study on Biosensor Research - An international study to determine the status of biosensor research and applications is planned for the near future. The NIH, NSF, and several other agencies are planning to support the study which will be similar to prior efforts for nanotechnology and biomaterials.

BECON Nanotechnology Program Announcement – A draft nanotechnology program announcement was distributed electronically to BECON members and discussed at the meeting.

BECON Web site - Several items concerning the BECON Web site were discussed including a review of the text and format and suggested changes to the content.

Re-issue of BRG and BRP Program Announcements – Since the current BRP program announcement (PAR-01-010) ended with the August 12 deadline, a discussion was held to determine if the solicitation should be re-issued for 2003 and if any changes were necessary. Also, although the current BRG announcement (PA-01-011) was issued in 2001 and is in effect until 2004, discussion concerning the need for changes was held. The BECON consensus was that based on the popularity and efficacy of the bioengineering research partnership program, the BRP solicitation should be re-issued with the same focus, text and format changes required by the new PA template, and two receipt dates in 2003. With regard to the BRG solicitation, the consensus was that the current announcement should be retained as is.

Next BECON Meeting – The next BECON meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, September 18, from 3 to 5 PM. The location may have to be moved from Room 151 in Building 1 because of a conflict with an OD event in that room.