According to the latest statistics by Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, China has more than 100 million people suffering from mental disorders, with 16 million of them in a crucial stage.

Lu Bai, a guest professor of Tsinghua University and vice-president of GlaxoSmithKline, a science-led global healthcare company, says the founding of three McGovern institutes in Beijing will help China's brain science in several ways.

"Most importantly, it will set a new model of operation of scientific institutions," Lu says.

He says the fund would help recruit top Chinese neuroscientists to return to China, and the close tie of the three institutes with the McGovern Institute at MIT will provide unique opportunities for collaborations between neuroscientists in China and the US.