BECON MEETING MINUTES

BECON MEETING – July 16, 2003

Public Minutes

The NIH’s Bioengineering Consortium (BECON) met from 3 to 5 PM on Wednesday, July 16, 2003, in Room 151 of Building 1 on the NIH Main Campus.

1. BRP Grantee Meeting Summary (Jeff Schloss and Mollie Sourwine) – The Third Annual BRP Grantee Meeting was held on June 24-25 at the Bethesda Marriott on Pooks Hill Road. Representatives from over 100 BRP grants presented brief overviews on the status of their research and partnership management. In addition, there were updates from NIH staff on extramural programs, technology transfer, bioengineering review, and data sharing; and group discussions on the BRP program in general and team research issues. A website for the meeting has been created which contains all presentations and a compilation of the partnership summary reports. The site can be accessed from the BECON website Funding page at http://www.becon.nih.gov/becon_funding.htm.

2. New BRP Solicitation (Mollie Sourwine) – The first draft of the new BRP solicitation will be circulated to the BECON in the very near future. It is expected that the new BRP announcement should be released into the NIH Guide by September 2003.

3. Analysis of BRG Applications and Reviews (Jeff Schloss and Allison Peck) – An analysis of the applications and reviews of BRG applications was presented to the BECON.

4. NIST ATP Awards (Mrunal Chapekar) – NIST announced the award of 16 new ATP projects- 13 to individual companies and 3 to joint venture partnerships. The new awards total approximately $35 million in ATP funding and $22 million in industry share contributions. More information about the NIST ATP program can be accessed at http://atp.nist.gov/.

5. BECON 2004 Symposium (Larry Clarke and Michael Marron) – Discussion tabled for next meeting.

6. Future BECON Activities (Jeff Schloss) – Discussion tabled for next meeting.

7. Summary of BECON 2003 Symposium (Dan Sullivan) – The BECON 2003 Symposium was held on June 23-24 at the Natcher Conference Center on the NIH Main Campus. There were almost 400 registered attendees. A website has been developed which contains draft recommendations from the breakout sessions, links to the videocast of the plenary sessions, and the presentation files from the plenary speakers. The website can be accessed at http://www.becon.nih.gov/symposium2003.htm.

Next BECON Meeting – The August BECON meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, August 20, from 3 to 5 PM in room 151 in Building l on the NIH Main Campus.