Dr. Thomas Insel, Director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), USA, Dr. Richard Nakamura, the Scientific Director of NIMH, and Dr. Bai Lu, Associate Director of the Gene, Cognition and Psychosis Program (GCAP), visited the Institute of Biophysics (IBP) on April 6, 2009. They came to IBP to investigate the scientific research environment in China and to enhance the communication and cooperation in the brain and cognitive science. Prof. Rongqiao He, Vice Director of IBP, Prof. Lin Chen, Director of the State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Prof. Xiaolan Fu, Vice Director of the State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, and Xiaoke Xia, Vice Director of the International Liaison Office  of IBP, warmly welcomed the visitors.

Professor Rongqiao He gave the visitors a brief introduction to IBP. Then, Dr. Thomas Insel gave a lecture on “Rethinking Mental Illness”. Although it was on Qingming Holidays, over 80 audiences from IBP, the Institute of Psychology, Peking University, Beijing Hospital, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Beijing Xuanwu Hospital, were present at the lecture. After the lecture, the guests visited Prof. Zengqiang Yuan’s and Prof. Jinhui Wang’s laboratories at the Center for Brain and Cognitive Science (IBP), and then the Core Facility Center for Protein Research, the Beijing MRI Center for Brain Research, and some laboratories at the Institute of Psychology. At last, the visitors hold a discussion with the members of the Center for Brain Mapping (IBP). Professor Lin Chen introduced the roadmap of the Center. The hosts and guests had a very concrete discussion over related issues.

After the visit, Director Dr. Thomas Insel expressed deep appreciation of the research work undertaken by the IBP and the State Key Laboratory of Brain and Cognitive Science, expressed thanks for the warm welcome they had received, and expressed their greetings to all hosts.