BECON MEETING MINUTES

BECON MEETING – September 18, 2002

Public Minutes

The NIH Bioengineering Consortium (BECON) met from 3:00 to 4:30 PM on Wednesday, September 18, 2002, in Room F1/F2 at the Natcher Conference Center on the NIH Main Campus. The following text provides the minutes of this meeting.

NIBIB Update – Dr. Donna Dean, Acting Director of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), provided a status report and thanked the BECON membership for its cooperation and support during the Institute’s initial development period. Dr. Roderic Pettigrew is scheduled to assume the NIBIB Director position on September 23, and Dr. Dean will be the Deputy Director of the Institute.

Status of BRP Applications – A summary of the status of BRP applications for May 2002 councils was distributed.

BMIS Workshop – The Biomedical Implant Science (BMIS) Coordinating Committee will conduct a two-day workshop aimed at informing patients of the importance of implant retrieval and analysis. The Workshop will be held at the University of Maryland – Shady Grove Campus on September 19-20.

BECON 2003 Symposium Status – The BECON 2003 Coordinating Committee is meeting weekly to plan for a symposium titled “Catalyzing Team Science” in late June 2003. Current efforts are aimed at planning and Advisory Committee meeting in late October or early November to develop objectives, a format, a list of possible participants, and a course of action for the BECON 2003 Symposium.

BECON Nanotechnology Program Announcement – A draft of a BECON program announcement (PA) soliciting applications for research in nanotechnology was distributed to BECON members for review and comment.

Bioengineering R21 Program Announcement – A draft of a BECON bioengineering research solicitation using the R21 mechanism was distributed and discussed.

BRP Program Announcement - The BRP PA (PAR-02-010) ended with the August 12 submittal date. A new announcement is being prepared and will use the new PA template and address issues concerning resubmittal, renewal, and greater-than-$500 k budgets.

Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Joint Program Announcement – The Multi-Agency Tissue Engineering and Science (MATES) Coordinating Committee is preparing a multi-agency program announcement for research involving tissue engineering and regenerative medicine. The joint solicitation is based on recommendations from the BECON 2002 Reparative Medicine Symposium and an international study on the status of tissue engineering research conducted by the WTEC.

BRP and BRG Contacts List – The Web-based list of scientific and financial contacts for the BECON IC’s needs to be updated. .

BECON Chair Position – Specifics concerning the BECON chair position (e.g., duration of term, election of successor) were discussed at the meeting.

Next BECON Meeting – The next BECON meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, October 16, from 3 to 5 PM in Room 151 of Building 1 on the NIH Main Campus. A preliminary agenda will be available about a week before the meeting.