Southeast University traces its origins to the Sanjiang Normal School, founded in 1902, and subsequently evolved through several key historical stages, including the Liangjiang Normal School (1905), Nanjing Higher Normal School (1914), National Southeast University (1921), and National Central University (1928). As early as 1920, at the foot of Jiming Mountain in Nanjing, the first Department of Biology in the history of China was established, with Professor Bing Zhi, a pioneering figure in Chinese biology, serving as its founding chair. A distinguished group of renowned scholars subsequently taught here, including Academicians Bing Zhi, Dai Fanglan, Zhang Jingyue, Cai Qiao, and Tong Dizhou, among many others. Following the nationwide adjustment of higher education institutions in 1952, the biology discipline was relocated together with the medical school to form the East China Military Medical College, which later underwent several name changes and became Nanjing Railway Medical College. Academicians Yang Huanming and He Lin are outstanding representatives among its distinguished alumni. In April 2000, Nanjing Railway Medical College merged with Southeast University and other institutions to form the new Southeast University. Leveraging Southeast University’s strong engineering tradition and growing comprehensive strength, the biology discipline—centered on genetics—has since demonstrated renewed vitality and rapid development. To further promote life sciences, Southeast University established the Institute of Life Sciences in 2009, which was restructured in 2019 into the School of Life Science and Technology.

     The School is currently located at the Jiangbei Campus, the main campus for Southeast University’s large-scale medical education initiatives. The campus enjoys excellent transportation accessibility, with Metro Line 3 running through Nanjing from south to north, connecting the Jiulonghu Campus, Sipailou Campus, Jiangbei Campus, Nanjing South Railway Station, and Nanjing Railway Station. The Jiangbei Campus is adjacent to the Nanjing Jiangbei New Area, a national-level new district that also hosts the Jiangsu Free Trade Zone, forming a “dual-zone” strategic industrial hub. The area focuses on frontier fields such as gene and cell therapy and innovative pharmaceuticals, building a full industrial chain that integrates research and development, clinical application, manufacturing, and medical care. With multiple original achievements leading both nationally and internationally, the Jiangbei New Area serves as a major benchmark for China’s life and health industry innovation and a strategic pivot for Jiangsu Province in developing a world-class biopharmaceutical cluster and driving industrial upgrading across the Yangtze River Delta.

Faculty

     The School of Life Science and Technology has built a dynamic, highly qualified, and internationally oriented young academic team. It currently comprises nearly 80 full-time and part-time researchers, as well as technical and administrative staff. Among the full-time faculty are 24 professors/Senior Researchers, and 19 associate professors/associate researchers, all of whom at the associate professor level or above have overseas study or visiting experience.The School counts 23 national-level talent appointments among its full-time faculty, along with 23 provincial-level talents, including recipients of the Jiangsu Distinguished Young Scholars Fund, Provincial Distinguished Professorships, and various levels of the “333 Project”.

Scientific Research

     The School hosts the Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Developmental Genes and Human Disease and the Ministry of EducationDrosophila andC. elegans Resource Center. It organizes the Sanjiang Distinguished Lecture Series and related academic seminars, inviting leading scholars from China and abroad to present cutting-edge research and promote academic exchange. The School also operates a postdoctoral research station in Biology and holds a Changjiang Scholars Distinguished Professorship authorized by the Ministry of Education. In recent years, shared research platforms based on model organisms such as mice,Drosophila, andC. elegans have been established. Three major research directions have taken shape: brain science and brain-inspired intelligence, regulation of tissue and organ development, and pathogenic mechanisms and clinical translation of major diseases. Over the past five years, the School has achieved major breakthroughs in nationally funded projects. It has led one National Science and Technology Innovation 2030 Major Project, one Key National R&D Program, and one Youth Key Project under the National Key R&D Program, while undertaking one Key R&D sub-project. Faculty members have also led one NSFC       Major Integrated Project, four NSFC Key Projects, and one Original Exploration Project, in addition to 26 General Program grants and 17 Young Scientists (Category C) grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China. At the provincial level, the School has received 2 Jiangsu Key Projects, 1 Distinguished Young Scholars Project, 1 Excellent Young Scholars Project, 4 General Projects, and 5 Youth Projects. Newly secured research funding has exceeded RMB 100 million. During this period, the School has published 250 high-quality papers with impact factors above 5, including articles in leading international journals such as Cell, Nature, and The Lancet. Faculty members have been granted 15 new national invention patents and received 22 major awards, including the Third National Innovation and Excellence Award, First Prize of the Jiangsu Provincial Science and Technology Award, Second Prize of the Chinese Medical Science and Technology Award, the Jiangsu Youth May Fourth Medal (Collective), and the Jiangsu Outstanding Contribution Award for Young Scientists, among others.

Education and Training

     The School comprises two academic departments—Synthetic Biology and Intelligent Biology—as well as an Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center. It offers three undergraduate programs: Biological Sciences, Biological Engineering, and a dual bachelor’s degree in “Biological Sciences + Computer Science and Technology.” Graduate programs at both the master’s and doctoral levels include two tracks: Biology (academic degree) and Biomedicine (professional degree). Six research areas are covered: Biology, Genetics, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Neurobiology, Developmental Biology, and Cytogenetics, with Genetics designated as a Key Discipline of Jiangsu Province. The dual bachelor’s degree program in Biological Sciences + Computer Science and Technology aims to cultivate urgently needed interdisciplinary leaders in intelligent biology. Biological Engineering is recognized as a Jiangsu Provincial Featured Undergraduate Program, and Molecular Biology is designated as a Provincial High-Quality English-Taught Course. The School actively innovates its graduate training and management mechanisms, implementing a rotation system and strengthening scientific culture throughout the training process. Through regular academic activities and incentive mechanisms, the School fosters students’ research interest and sense of mission in pursuing scientific truth. Each year, the School enrolls approximately 50 undergraduate students, 100 master’s students, and 50 doctoral students.

International Cooperation and Exchange

     In previous international collaborations, the School jointly established the Bioinformatics and Systems Biology Center of the Southeast University–Monash University Suzhou Joint Research Institute with Monash University (Australia). This collaboration concluded successfully after fulfilling its phased objectives. Currently, the School continues to promote international academic exchange through flexible mechanisms such as short-term visits by overseas distinguished scholars, aiming to deepen interactions with leading scientists and research teams worldwide. Renowned international scholars—such as those from Academia Sinica (Taiwan) and the National University of Singapore—have been invited to campus to deliver frontier lectures, participate in teaching, engage in in-depth discussions with faculty and students, and contribute to the “Global SEU” Distinguished Foreign Expert Lecture Series. Through the Southeast University Global Distinguished Lecture Program, the School is actively advancing collaboration plans with top international experts from institutions such as the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS), The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and The Free University of Berlin. These high-quality exchanges have significantly enhanced the School’s research perspective and academic influence in frontier fields including developmental biology, epigenetics, and neuroscience. Moving forward, the School will continue to expand its global collaboration network to inject sustained international momentum into scientific innovation and talent cultivation. In alignment with global trends in life sciences, the School of Life Science and Technology at Southeast University will focus on development and disease as its central theme, with strategic emphasis on brain science and brain-inspired intelligence, regulation of tissue and organ development, and pathogenic mechanisms and clinical translation of major diseases. Research will be conducted using model organisms and clinical patient samples as primary systems, with translational medicine as a medium- to long-term goal. Investigations will span multiple levels—from molecular and cellular mechanisms to whole-organism studies—to actively advance the development of life sciences at Southeast University.

(Updated November 2025)