BECON MEETING MINUTES

BECON MEETING – April 23, 2003

Public Minutes

Minutes

The NIH’s Bioengineering Consortium (BECON) met from 3 to 5 PM on Wednesday, April 23, 2003, in Room 1328 of Building 50 on the NIH Main Campus. The following text minutes of this meeting.

1. BECON 2003 Symposium on Catalyzing Team Science - Registration is continuing for the symposium. All of the plenary speakers and almost all of the breakout session participants have been confirmed. An updated agenda can be accessed on the symposium website at http://www.becon.nih.gov/symposium2003.htm. A message was sent out through the NIH Listserv on April 10 announcing the event. Color flyers were distributed to BECON members for distribution at upcoming meeting or display in their offices and buildings.

2. BRP Grantee Meeting - The BRP Grantee Meeting is scheduled for June 25-26 at the Bethesda Marriott on Pooks Hill Road. The meeting will begin at 2:00pm on June 25^th (immediately following the BECON 2003 symposium) and run through noon on June 26^th. Several messages have been sent out to grantees announcing the meeting and requesting recommendations on topics for discussion.

3. Nanotechnology Issues – The Nanotechnology Roadmap Committee has submitted a request for FY2003 Director Discretionary Funds (DDF) for two nanoscience initiatives. The first initiative is for four workshops on selected scientific areas which combine nanoscience and biology. The second initiative is for supplemental research funds to enhance the quantitative measurements on projects currently investigating biological process or diagnostic/treatment modalities at the molecular level. The roadmap committee is asking ICs if they would like to participate in these initiatives, if the requests are successful.

4. BECON Contacts List Update – We would like to update the list of contacts that is linked to the BRP, BRG and eBRG program announcements. These contacts are listed at http://www.becon.nih.gov/becon_contacts.htm.

5. BEMA Workshop on Science-Based Testing - The BEMA Roundtable is held a workshop on “Science-Based Assessment: Accelerating Product Development of Combination Medical Devices” on April 22-23, 2003 at the National Academy of Sciences Building in Washington, DC.

6. BECON 2004 Symposium – Discussion on the topic for the next BECON symposium will be held for the next meeting.

Next BECON Meeting – The May BECON meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, May 21, from 3 to 5 PM in room 151 in Building l on the NIH Main Campus.