The brainchild of Israeli President Shimon Peres is coming to Ontario.

The Ontario Brain Institute, announced Monday, will be a virtual research centre aimed at unlocking the mysteries of puzzling diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, autism and schizophrenia.

The Nobel Prize-winning Peres first asked Premier Dalton McGuinty to partner with Israel to create a leading-edge brain research institute last May. At the time, the premier was on a trade mission to Israel when Peres surprised McGuinty with the collaborative suggestion.

Ontario will commit $15 million to the project over the next 3 years.

The provincial government says the institute will bring together top brain researchers with life sciences companies that “know how to commercialize good ideas.”

“We’re supporting this work to help export our discoveries to the world,” McGuinty said in a release.

When Peres first suggested to McGuinty the two countries partner on brain research he recommended the creation of a small secretariat.

“I would like to suggest to you something that doesn’t exist between countries,” the Israeli head of state told the premier at Beit Hanassi, the presidential palace, the Star’s Robert Benzie reported at the time.

“There will be a group of scientists ... not an administration. It would finance ideas, it would get financing and the fruits would be sweet,” the president said.

McGuinty is expected to provide further details on the brain institute Monday at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.

Nearly 1 million people in Ontario live with neurological disorders.

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