School of Life Sciences (Central South University) was founded in May 2003. It was formerly known as School of Biological Science and Technology (Central South University) before April 2013.

In 1942, Prof. Ren Bangzhe established the Department of Biochemistry at Xiangya Medical College, followed by the Department of Biochemistry. In 1943, Prof. Lu Huilin established the Department of Biology at Xiangya Medical College. In 1978, Prof. Jiahui Xia led the establishment of the Research and Teaching Laboratory of Medical Genetics at Hunan Medical University. In 1984, Prof. Xia was informed by the Ministry of Health and the State Planning Commission to establish the State Key Laboratory of Medical Genetics (Hunan Medical University).

In 2000, Hunan Medical University merged with Central South University of Technology and Changsha Railway College to form Central South University. In the same year, the first-level discipline of biology at Central South University became one of the first authorized sites for doctoral degree in China. In April 2013, CSU formally issued a document announcing the decision to change the name of the College of Biological Sciences and Technology to the College of Life Sciences.^[1]