The College of Life Sciences and Oceanography (CLSO) evolved from the Laboratory of Life Sciences founded in 1989. In 1997, the Department of Bioengineering was established. In 2002, the College of Life Sciences (CLS) was established with Jiazan Ni, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences serving as the first dean. It was renamed College of Life Sciences and Oceanography in 2015. Our mission is to investigate the Earth’s life and oceans and to inspire and transform our students by providing a research-based education and an innovative learning experience.
CLSO boasts an accomplished faculty composed of world renowned and well-reputed scholars. CLSO offers five undergraduate programs in Biotechnology, Biological Sciences, Biological Sciences (normal education), Marine Sciences, and Biological Engineering, two first-tier discipline master’s degree programs in Biology and Ecology, and a second-tier discipline PhD program in Optobiology. We have two feature majors of Guangdong Province: Biotechnology and Biosciences.
CLSO owns excellent facilities for teaching and research, including three key research platforms of Guangdong Province (Key Laboratory for Plant Epigenetics, Technology Research Center for Marine Algae Bioengineering and Biological Science Teaching Experimental Center), three Shenzhen key laboratories (Laboratory of Microbial Genetic Engineering, Laboratory of Marine Bioresource and Eco-environmental Science and Engineering Laboratory for Marine Algal Biotechnology), nine university-level institutes (centers) and public technology platforms for proteomics, genomics, structural biology, and molecular and cell biology.
CLSO is dedicated to excellence in scientific research and innovation. Over the past three years, the College has undertaken 189 scientific research projects with a total funding of nearly 160 million RMB, including two key research and development plans of the Ministry of Science and Technology and 51 national natural science fund projects (including one major research plan and one major cultivation project). CLSO has won two scientific and technological achievement awards at ministerial and provincial levels and had 58 national patented inventions. CLSO faculty have published 331 SCI-indexed papers, especially in 2019, our faculty members published a full research article in Nature as the first author. This is the first paper with Shenzhen University as the first affiliation published in Nature since the establishment of the University.
CLSO aims to provide an exceptional education to cultivate innovative and entrepreneurial talents. There are "Innovation Experiment Class", "Entrepreneurship Practice Class", "Ocean Elite Class" and "3+1+1" joint training project with Auckland University of Technology and Michigan Technological University. CLSO has also established partnerships with over 60 biotechnology enterprises in Shenzhen to carry out talent training programs integrating industry, university and research. CLSO students have achieved outstanding results in international and domestic competitions, winning 11 international awards, 24 national awards and 21 provincial awards. Our student team has also won the first prize of the "Challenge Cup" National College Students Extracurricular Science and Technology Competition, and was selected the "Xiaoping Technology Innovation Team". The iGEM (International Genetic Engineering Machine Competition) team has won five gold medals, one bronze medal, three individual awards and five individual nominations. In 2018, the iGEM team won the third place in the undergraduate group in the world, the best among all the Asian university teams that year.
