The foundation is shifting its emphasis away from biomedical research.

Much to Spanish scientists' dismay, the Fundación Juan March, which has for decades supported international meetings and research grants for biomedical research, has decided to end its commitment to biology. Its last biology meeting, on uncoupling proteins, was held in April 2005.

Foundation officials say they have ended the program because it has achieved its goals. “A stage has already been fulfilled,” says Javier Goñi, a spokesman for the foundation. Officials reportedly told the foundation's scientific council that it would now focus on other topics, such as philosophy.

Established in 1955 by Spanish entrepreneur Juan March-Ordinas, the foundation is a family-run institution that, till this year, dedicated its resources to promoting biomedical research, including neurobiology, genetics and biophysics.

I personally think that the cancellation is a catastrophe for the Spanish scientific system. , Luis Enjuanes, Madrid's National Center of Biotechnology

The foundation is best known for its international conferences in biology. Since 1992, it has organized monthly three-day workshops on topics determined by experts, including several Nobel Laureates. Each workshop hosted about 20 speakers and 30 attendees. By the end of 2004, the foundation had organized about 200 workshops at its headquarters in Madrid. Scientific journals, primarily those belonging to Cell Press, often published reports from the meetings.

In 1981, the institution also promoted an eight-year Plan of Molecular Biology and Its Applications aimed at training Spanish and foreign researchers through nearly 200 grants. The decision to end the grants program is “a pity and a loss,” says Jorge Moscat, a researcher at Madrid's Molecular Biology Center. Moscat in 2001 received $1 million as part of the foundation's initiative to back young Spanish researchers.

Rafael Yuste, associate professor of neurobiology at Columbia University and son of former director José Luis Yuste-Grijalba, says at least a part of the decision is because of budget constraints on the March family's businesses. But Goñi says the decision to cancel was not based on financial reasons.

In a statement to Nature Medicine, the foundation said it will continue its support of biomedical research by co-sponsoring the 'Cantoblanco Workshops,' set to begin in the fall at Madrid Autonomous University. But those meetings will be held without the foundation's input in selecting topics.

“The workshops were undoubtedly the greatest scientific event seen in Spain over the last years,” says Luis Enjuanes, a researcher at Madrid's National Center of Biotechnology, who in April participated in a seminar that paid homage to the foundation. “I personally think that the cancellation is a catastrophe for the Spanish scientific system.”