BECON MEETING MINUTES

BECON MEETING - DECEMBER 15, 2004

The NIH Bioengineering Consortium (BECON) met on Wednesday, December 15, 2004 , from 3 to 4:30 PM in Room 7111 of the Rockledge 2 Building on Rockledge Drive in Bethesda , Maryland . The following text is the minutes for this meeting.

Bioengineering Research Partnership (BRP) Status – Two items concerning the BRP program were discussed at the meeting – the addition of receipt dates for applications and letters of intent (LOI's) for the January 20, 2005, receipt date. A one-page copy of a notice that will appear in the “NIH Guide” that announces the new receipt dates was distributed at the meeting. Instead of the traditional two receipt dates per year, there will now be three receipt dates per year as discussed at the September 2004 BECON meeting. New receipt dates for BRP applications to be received at the NIH are January 20, 2005 ; May 20, 2005 ; September 20, 2005 ; January 20, 2006 ; and May 22, 2006 . Deadlines for letters of intent are two months before the application dates. With regard to letters of intent for the January 20, 2005 , receipt date, a list of these including PI name and affiliation and title was distributed at the meeting. .

Pediatric Device Issues – A representative of the NIH/OD discussed a possible Congressional initiative related to pediatric devices. The initiative is being led by interest groups who are concerned about commercialization and availability of pediatric devices. Activities are proceeding, and the NIH/OD will keep the BECON informed of relevant issues.

Summary of November 9 Conference on Bridging the Sciences – A conference on “Research at the Interface of the Life and Physical Sciences: Bridging the Sciences” was conducted on November 9, 2004 , at the Holiday Inn Bethesda. This conference was aimed at obtaining scientific community input on actions necessary to effectively bridge the life and physical sciences. The meting was follow-up to a workshop of Federal agency representatives that was held on May 10, 2004 , in Building31 on the NIH Main Campus to develop agency perspectives on this topic. A summary report of the November 9 meeting is in preparation.

BECON 2004 Symposium Report Status – A second draft of the summary report for the BECON/BISTIC 2004 Symposium on “Bioinformatics in Clinical Decision-Making” has been prepared and is being reviewed by conference coordinators. The report is targeted for issue in mid-February 2005.

The Future Role of BECON – The future role of BECON (or a similar entity) at the NIH has been a topic of discussion for the past several BECON meetings. Due to time limitations, the discussion was tabled with a plan for a subcommittee to meet to discuss options prior to the January BECON meeting.

Next BECON Meeting – The next BECON meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, January 19, from 3 to 4:30 in Room 7111 of the Rockledge 2 Building. A preliminary agenda will be available about a week before the meeting.