The College of Life Sciences and Oceanography of Shenzhen University originated 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, and Academician Jiazan Ni of the Chinese Academy of Sciences served as the first dean. In June 2015,CLS was renamed as College of Life Sciences and Oceanography(CLSO).

CLSO consists of world renowned and well-reputed faculties, including academicians of Chinese Academy of Sciences. CLSO offers five undergraduate programs, including Biotechnology,Biological Sciences,Biological Sciences(normal),Marine Sciences,and Biological Engineering. Among them,Biotechnology is a top-ranked and distinctive major in Guangdong Province. Biosciencesis adistinctive major in Guangdong Province.CLSO also offers tworesearch-based (MPhil) degrees, including biology,ecology, and one PhD degree in biology.CLSO is excellently equipped for teaching and research in a broad range of areas, with a total value of 180 million RMB.The college has key laboratories encompass a broad area of the life sciences and marine sciences, including three key research platforms of Guangdong Province (Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory for Plant Epigenetics,Guangdong Technology Research Center for Marine Algae Bioengineering, Biological Science Teaching Experimental Center), three Shenzhen key laboratories (Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Microbial Genetic Engineering, Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Marine Bioresource and Eco-environmental Science, Shenzhen Engineering Laboratory for Marine Algal Biotechnology),and nine university-level institutes (centers). In addition, the college has a large collection of the state-of-the-art public technology platforms for proteomics, genomics, structural biology, and molecular and cell biology.

CLSO is dedicated to scientific research and innovation. Over the past 3 years, the college undertook 189 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, 51 national natural science fund projects (including one major research plan and one major cultivation program).The college obtained two provincial or ministerial levels scientific and technological achievement awards, 58 national invention patent authorizations, and published 331 SCI-indexed papers. In 2019, a full research article was published in Nature with Shenzhen University as the first affiliation for the first time since the establishment of the University.

CLSO aims at cultivating innovative and entrepreneurial students. The college has obtained fruitful results. There are"Innovation Experiment Class", "Entrepreneurship Practice Class" and "Ocean Elite Class",as well as the "3+1+1" joint training projects with Auckland University of Technology and Michigan Technological University. CLSO alsocooperated with over 60 biotechnology-related enterprises in Shenzhen,to implement the "Industry-University-Research" integrated talent training program.Our students have achieved outstanding results in international and domestic competitions, including 11 international awards, 24 national awards and 21 provincial awards in six major domestic and international discipline and skill competitions. The students have also won the highest prize of the "Challenge Cup" National College Students Extracurricular Science and Technology Competition, and some were selected as the "Xiaoping Technology Innovation Team". The iGEM(International Genetic Engineering Machine Competition)team has won five gold and one bronze medals, three individual awards and five individual nominations. In 2018, the iGEM team won the third place in the undergraduate group in the world, which was the best achievement among the Asian college competition teams of the year.

Adhering to the philosophy of "Study the origin of life, investigate the source of ocean, build the way of science, and cultivate the talents for innovation ",CLSO educates and trains high-quality talents for innovation and entrepreneurship with the spirit of reform and innovation.