BECON MEETING MINUTES

BECON MEETING – March 17, 2004

Minutes

The NIH Bioengineering Consortium (BECON) met from 3 to 4:30 PM on Wednesday, March 17, in Room 7111 of the Rockledge 2 Building on Rockledge Drive in Bethesda, Maryland. This was the first off-site and 90-minute meeting scheduled after the poll of BECON members concerning locations and times of BECON meetings. The following text provides the minutes of this meeting.

BECON 2004 Symposium Status – Planning continues for the BECON2004 Symposium on “Biomedical Informatics for Clinical Decision Support”. The conference is scheduled for June 21-22 at the Natcher Conference Center on the NIH Main Campus and is a joint effort with the NIH BISTI Consortium. The current agenda and descriptions of the breakout sessions were distributed at the meeting. Plenary speakers have been identified and confirmed. A poster has been prepared for the symposium and will be released in the near future.

Fourth BRP Grantee Meeting - Plans for a Fourth BRP Grantee Meeting were discussed, and a one-page summary of the meeting status was distributed. This year’s meeting will consist of a total of more than 150 attendees including about 130 BRP grantees and 20 or more BECON and NIH staff

Team Science Issues and Update – A NIH effort is being coordinated by the OD to assemble a subcommittee aimed at implementing recommendations from the BECON 2003 symposium on “Catalyzing Team Science”.

Tissue Engineering Information - The Multi-Agency Tissue Engineering Science (MATES) Group is considering holding a workshop to identify opportunities for tissue engineering research. NIH IC’s will be asked to provide specific goals and programs associated with tissue engineering and their missions.

Future BECON Symposia – Several possibilities were discussed with regard to future BECON symposia and related meetings.

Comments on the Meeting Location and Time - Almost all attendees were happy with the off-site location and time. The April meeting will also be held off-site and with a 90-minute limit to provide another data point.

Other Item – The following item was discussed at the meeting but was not on the original agenda:

Meeting on Nanobiomedicine - A meeting to discuss national centers for nanobiomedicine associated with the NIH Roadmap Initiative is scheduled for May 4 beginning at 8 AM in the Masur Auditorium in Building 10 on the NIH Main Campus. A Web site at http://www.capconcorp.com/roadmap04 provides details of this meeting.

Next BECON Meeting - The next BECON meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, April 28, from 3 to 4:30 PM in Room 223 (Suite 200) of the Democracy 2 Building (6707 Democracy Boulevard) in Bethesda, Maryland. A preliminary agenda will be available about a week before the meeting.