BECON MEETING MINUTES

BECON MEETING – August 20, 2003

Public Minutes

The NIH’s Bioengineering Consortium (BECON) met from 3 to 5 PM on Wednesday, August 20, 2003, in room 151 of Building l on the NIH Main Campus in Bethesda, Maryland. The following text provides the minutes for this meeting.

Response to August 22 BRP Application Deadline – A slightly-below average number of letters of intent have been received for the August 22 BRP application deadline.

BECON 2003 Symposium – Follow-up on the BECON 2003 Symposium on “Catalyzing Team Science” is continuing with most of the effort focused on (l) preparing a summary report and (2) disseminating recommendations to the NIH community. With regard to the workshop report, the Symposium Committee is working with the chairs, session moderators, and committee members to develop a format. Results of the BECON 2003 Symposium to the Extramural Programs Management Council (EPMC) on August 20. Current plans are to keep the EPMC informed of progress on developing a final list of recommendations and to solicit EPMC assistance in the application of the recommendations to NIH programs.

First BISTIC Symposium – The NIH Bioinformatics Consortium (BISTIC) is planning their first symposium on “Digital Biology: The Emerging Paradigm” on November 6-7, 2003, at the Natcher Conference Center. The symposium is aimed at setting the stage for NIH a national programs in bioinformatics in the same way that the first BECON Symposium on “Bioengineering” developed recommendations for bioengineering programs at NIH and nationally. Agenda and registration details are available on the BISTIC Web site at http://www.bisti.nih.gov .

2004 BRP Solicitation – The revision of the BECON Bioengineering Research Partnership (BRP) solicitation has been discussed at the past two BECON meetings, and a subcommittee has been formed to develop a draft solicitation to replace PAR-03-032, the current BRP announcement. Current plans are to issue the new solicitation for 2004 in late September or early October.

NIBIB Quantum Grants – As a “heads up” to BECON members a NIBIB program to make one or two “quantum grants” was described and members were requested to give some thought to projects that would represent significant (quantum) advances in healthcare in their areas of interest.

BECON 2004 Symposium – As discussed at prior BECON meetings, plans for a BECON 2004 Symposium in June 2004 are continuing. The focus topic will be data processing and informatics.

Next BECON Meeting – The next BECON meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, September 17, from 3 to 5 PM in Room 151 of Building 1 on the NIH Main Campus in Bethesda, Maryland. A preliminary agenda will be available about a week before the meeting.