BECON MEETING MINUTES

BECON MEETING – November 20, 2002

Public Minutes

The NIH’s Bioengineering Consortium (BECON) met from 3 to 5 PM on Wednesday, November 20, 2002, in Room 6C6 of Building 31 on the NIH Main Campus in Bethesda, Maryland. The following text provides the minutes of this meeting.

BRP Program Announcement -The new BRP announcement will be released in the NIH Guide by the end of this week. Application receipt dates for the new program announcement (PA) will be January 23 and August 22, 2003. A page on the BECON website has been created to list IC-specific focus areas for the BRP program, and the url has been included in the BRP solicitation.

[Subsequent to this meeting, the new BRP solicitation was released in the “NIH Guide” as PAR-03-032.]

Status of BECON Nanotechnology PA - The BECON nanotechnology PA will be released in the “NIH Guide” very soon. Similar to the BRP announcement, a website will be created to list IC-specific focus areas.

Status of BECON R21 PA - Final comments from participating ICs are being incorporated into the BECON bioengineering R21 announcement, and it should be released in the next couple of weeks.. This PA will follow the newly-released guidelines for streamlining R21 programs across NIH. Applications received in response to this PA will be reviewed by CSR, and attempts will be made to cluster the applications into study sections with bioengineering expertise as is done with BRG applications.

BECON 2003 Update - The External Advisory Committee Meeting for the BECON 2003 Symposium on “Catalyzing Team Science” was held on Friday, November 15. The committee agreed that the symposium would not resolve all issues related to team science but would initiate dialog for long-term awareness and action. The Committee provided a list of suggested topics to be addressed, potential speakers, and co-chairs. The BECON Symposium Subcommittee is planning to meet to December 4 and 11 to review the comments from the Advisory Committee Meeting and prepare a draft agenda and participant list for presentation at the December BECON meeting.

BRP Grantee Meeting – Based on the benefits and positive response from prior BRP grantee meetings, the BECON consensus was to hold a third BRP Grantee Meeting either in the spring of 2003 or in June in conjunction with the BECON 2003 Symposium. A prospectus for the 2003 BRP Grantee Meeting which will be presented at the December BECON Meeting.

Imaging and Biomedical Sciences Grants - A prospectus for Imaging and Biomedical Sciences Grants that was initially discussed at an Inter-Institute Imaging Group (I3G) Meeting was presented as an informational item for future consideration by the BECON. .

Biomedical Research at NSF- and DOE- Supported User Centers - Presented as an informational item, the BECON may want to consider broadening the use of resource centers supported by other federal agencies for biomedical research. In addition, opportunities should be evaluated for methods to facilitate some of the scientists at these resource centers becoming familiar with how such tools can be used to address biological problems.

Next BECON Meeting – The December BECON meeting is scheduled for Wednesday December 18, from 3 to 5 PM in Room 151 in Building l on the NIH Main Campus. A preliminary agenda will be available about a week before the meeting.