The Biomedical Engineering Materials and Applications Roundtable (BEMA), conducted jointly with the National Research Council's National Materials Advisory Board, provides a forum for identifying major opportunities for applying engineering principles to create and improve clinical performance of medically useful materials and devices, including implants, as well as for discussion of strategies for overcoming obstacles—technical, legal, or cultural—that impede transition of new materials and devices to clinical application.  The Roundtable will

• Provide a neutral setting for the exchange of information about issues related to biomaterials science, research, and practice;
• Identify and discuss priority issues in the general areas of biomaterials and their use in the development, manufacture and application of medical devices; and
• Conduct problem-solving and issue-identification activities such as workshops that would address issues in greater depth.

More information is available on the National Materials Advisory Board's web site