On July 14, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved and sent to
the floor the FY 2006 Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services,
Education and Related Agencies bill. Contained with this legislation
is the appropriation for the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging
and Bioengineering (NIBIB).
The current NIBIB budget is $298.2 million. The Bush Administration
requested $299.8 million (see http://www.aip.org/fyi/2005/023.html)
an increase of 0.5%, which the House approved on June 24 in its own
version of this bill (see http://www.aip.org/fyi/2005/097.html.)
The Senate bill, which has not gone to the floor, recommends an increase
of 3.7% or $10.9 million to $309.1 million. Funds, as noted below, would
be transferred from the Office of AIDS Research to NIBIB under the Senate
bill.
The following is the complete language on NIBIB from Senate Report
109-103:
"The Committee recommends an appropriation of $309,091,000
for the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering
[NIBIB]. The budget requested $299,808,000 and the fiscal year 2005
appropriation was $298,209,000. The comparable amounts for the budget
estimate include funds to be transferred from the Office of AIDS Research.
"Mission- The NIBIB improves health by promoting fundamental
discoveries, design and development, and translation and assessment
of technological capabilities in biomedical imaging and bioengineering,
enabled by relevant areas of information science, physics, chemistry,
mathematics, materials science, and computer sciences. The Institute
plans, conducts, fosters, and supports an integrated and coordinated
program of research and research training that can be applied to a
broad spectrum of biological processes, disorders and diseases and
across organ systems. The Institute coordinates with the biomedical
imaging and bioengineering programs of other agencies and NIH Institutes
to support imaging and engineering research with potential medical
applications and facilitates the transfer of such technologies to
medical applications.
"Professional Judgment Budget- The Committee acknowledges
receipt of the Five-Year Professional Judgment Budget for the National
Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering [NIBIB] requested
in House Report 108-636. The Committee notes the Budget's central
conclusion that biomedical imaging and bioengineering ‘are dynamic
and ripe with opportunities for major scientific advances' that could
be translated into dramatic improvements in health care. The Professional
Judgment Budget recommends a measured, reasonable rate of growth for
the NIBIB to achieve the goals of the important research areas enumerated
in the report. The Committee commends the NIH and Department of Health
and Human Services for this approach and believes that the projected
rate of growth is necessary to enable the NIBIB to achieve the scientific
advances that the Congress envisioned when it established the Institute.
"The Professional Judgment Budget recognizes the role
of the NIBIB with respect to interdisciplinary research, the physical
sciences, and technology development. The NIBIB has taken a leadership
role in efforts to examine the scientific questions that can be addressed
by collaboration between life and physical scientists, the barriers
to such collaboration, and the steps that need to be taken to bridge
these disciplines.
"The Committee is pleased with the role of the NIBIB
has played and will continue to play in the development of biomedical
technology related to the physical sciences.
Imaging and Engineering Advances- The Committee urges NIBIB
to focus efforts on improving musculoskeletal disease detection, monitoring
and treatment through focused imaging and engineering advances. The
Institute also is encouraged to develop noninvasive techniques to
measure bone quality and bone strength in humans.
"Liver Imaging Techniques- Consistent with NIBIB's mission
to improve all diagnostic imaging technologies, the Committee urges
NIBIB to make liver imaging techniques a primary focus, speeding the
development of new modalities that better capture the early stages
of various liver diseases, including cancer, as well as offering the
potential for combinations of diagnosis and treatment. This is also
necessary to develop less invasive diagnostics for liver disease patients.
The Committee urges NIBIB to participate actively in trans-NIH initiatives
that address these priorities.
"The Committee is encouraged by the potential of image-guided
surgery to improve patient outcomes. The Committee supports the Institute's
plans to hold a conference on image-guided surgery and looks forward
to learning about the results of this conference.
"PET and MicroPET Scans- The Committee continues to
encourage the Institute to devote significant resources to molecular
imaging technologies such as positron emission tomography [PET] and
microPET to take advantage of the capacities of molecular imaging
to detect disease process at the molecular level and to monitor the
effectiveness of targeted gene therapies now under development. The
Committee also encourages the new Institute to develop its research
agenda in close collaboration with other, disease-specific Institutes
at NIH, so that new imaging technologies are closely tied to the research
projects being undertaken by the various other Institutes of NIH."
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