1. History
The history of the College of Life Sciences at Jiangxi Normal University can be traced back to the Department of Biology of National Chung Cheng University. It was established by the first president Dr. Hu Xiansu, a world well-known scholar and plant taxonomist.
In 1950’s, the Department of Biology of International Chung Cheng University was suspended due to the nationwide department adjustment. However, more than 40 years later, in 1996, the major of chemistry and biological sciences was set up in the Department of Chemistry to meet the demand of the disciplinary development. In 2001, it was renamed as biological engineering major, and the School of Chemistry and Biological Sciences was established in the same year. In 2002, supported by its excellent faculty, the College of Life Sciences was reestablished with the aim to strengthen the life sciences.
2. Academic Programs
The college now has two provincial scientific research institutions, including a Key Laboratory of the Protection and Utilization of Subtropical Plant Resources of Jiangxi Province, and a Food and Biotechnology Industry-University Cooperation Demonstration and Breeding Base of Jiangxi Province. There are totally two first-level-discipline master degree programs in Biology and Ecology as well as one master degree program in Biology Education. The master degree of Biology falls into fours field, including food biochemistry, molecular biology, microbiology and plant resource science. The master degree of Ecology has three areas including animal behavior ecology, wetland ecology and watershed ecology.
3. Scientific Research
Since the 12th Five-Year Plan, the college has undertaken more than 120 projects, including national research project, the national “863” High-teach project, National Natural Science Foundation of China Project, National Agricultural Science and Technology Achievements Transformation Project, provincial scientific research projects and enterprise-funded projects. The total amount of ongoing research projects funds amounts to 40 million (RMB). A number of scientific and technological achievements have been achieved. Among them, five provincial and ministerial scientific and technological achievements were awarded; more than ten monographs and textbooks were published, and more than 400 papers were published, among which more than 150 papers were indexed by SCI, EI and ISTP, and 32 three major invention patents were obtained.
4. Teaching Staff
There are sixty nine faculty members in the college. Fifty of them are full-time teachers. Among them, there are 14 professors, 21 associate professors, 15 lecturers, and 43 teachers with doctorate degrees, including one nominee of the “Talent Project” in Jiangxi province, one member with the special allowance of the State Council, two nominees of the “Ganpo Program 555 for Outstanding Talents”, two leading scholars of discipline and technology in Jiangxi, three nominees of the “The New Century Talents Project”, two discipline leaders in higher education of Jiangxi province, four youth backbone teachers of Jiangxi higher education, two famous teachers of Jiangxi Normal University . There are eleven laboratory technicians, all of whom have master's degree or above, of whom two have doctorate degree and three are PhD Candidates.
5. Talents Training
There are three four-year undergraduate programs in the College of Life Sciences of which biological science has honored the first prize, biological engineering the second prize and biological technology the third prize in the first Comprehensive Evaluation of Undergraduate Courses of Jiangxi province. There is one Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center of Biology of Jiangxi Province in the College of Life Sciences, in which there are laboratories for undergraduate teaching, including biochemistry, molecular biology, microbiology, bioengineering and technology, botany, zoology, genetics, cell biology, plant physiology, animal physiology, experiment in bio-separation engineering, bioinformatics and other specialties.
As a college centering on undergraduate education, it attaches great importance to the learning of basic knowledge, essential skills and creativity of students and laboratory construction, forming an excellent teaching style and academic atmosphere. The average enrollment rate of the students by graduate universities at home and abroad was 27.42%, ranking top three in the university. Students have furthered their education at Tsinghua University, Fudan University, University of Science and Technology of China, major research institutes of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Zhejiang University, Wuhan University, Xiamen University, Sichuan University, East China University of Science and Technology and other national key universities and scientific research institutes. In 2003, students of the college were awarded the first prize at provincial-level and the third prize at national-level of the 8th “Challenge Cup” Extracurricular Scientific and Technological Works Competition for College Students. In 2004, students won the first prize at provincial-level, the Best-innovated Reward and a bronze medal at national-level at the 4th “Challenge Cup” Business Plan Competition for College Students. In 2009, students of the college ranked the third place of the National Challenge Cup Extracurricular Scientific and Technological Works Competition for College Students. In 2013 and 2014, the college respectively won the first prize and the third prize of Youth Creation Business Plan Competition for College Students. In 2015, we got the second prize and the third prize at provincial-level and the first prize for two items, the second prize for four items and the third prize for five items of the 14th Challenge Cup Extracurricular Scientific and Technological Works Competition for College Students. In the past five years the undergraduate annual employment rate was 93.05% and has been steadily increased. Besides, the employment channels have been gradually diversified.
6. Social Service
The College of Life Sciences stays committed to the way of Industry-Academy-Research combination, enhancing the cooperation with enterprises. Approved by Jiangxi Provincial Education Department and Jiangxi Economic and Trade Commission, “Jiangxi Industry-Academy-Research Combination of Food and Biotechnology Demonstration Base” affiliated to the college has already undertaken and accomplished numbers of programs including Enzymatic Production of Food Grade Chitosan Oligosaccharide supported by Innovation Fund of Ministry of Science and Technology of China and Pilotscale Experiment of Chitin/Chitosan in High Quality Insects supported by Agricultural Transformation Fund of Scientific and Technological Achievements. Led by Professor Tu Zongcai, the scientific research group was awarded “The Provincial Innovation Team”; Seventeen teachers were members of the provincial scientific mission. They took part in the project of sending science and technology to the rural areas. One teacher has taken a temporary official position in Sheyang County, Jiangsu Province to help promote the local development.
7. International Cooperation
The college emphasizes international communication and collaboration. Well-known oversea scholars have been invited to deliver lectures or as visiting scholars, such as Susan, academician of American National Academy Sciences, Professor Liu Haoping, the lifetime professor of UC, Professor Zhong Shuping from UCSF School of Medicine, and Professor Yuan Chunhong from Iwate University. The college organized the communication between teachers and visiting guests of Lawrence Technological University. In addition, teachers are encouraged to go abroad for further education and international academic conferences. In recent years, the college has successively sent students abroad to seek further education, and more than twenty teachers have been abroad for advanced education or as visiting scholars. Over thirty people have attended international academic conferences.
A list of discipline&major of Life Sciences College
一．Majors of bachelor
| No. | Category of discipline | Discipline | Code | Name of Major | Level | Years | Major / Discipline Introduction |
| 1 | Natural science | Biology | 071001 | Biological Science | bachelor | 4 | Biological Science is one of the fastest developing and most active basic disciplines in modern natural science. It studies life and its activity rhythm, reveals physical and chemical structure, function and interrelation of living organisms and discloses substance of life in several aspects like molecule, cell, tissue, organism, etc. Biological science major is subdivided into several branches, including phytobiology, zoobiology, biochemistry, molecular biology, microbiology, cell biology, genetics, ecology, etc. It not only sets foot on basic knowledge of these disciplines and relative experimental skills, but also improves teachers’ basic literacy. This is science major. Students will be conferred the bachelor’s degree of science. |
| 2 | Natural science | Biology | 071002 | Biological Technology | bachelor | 4 | Biological Technology is an important high-tech field as well as a multi-disciplinary comprehensive technology system. Biological technology major encompasses numerous sub-disciplines including biochemistry, molecular biology, cell biology, genetics, genetic engineering, cell engineering, enzyme engineering, microbial engineering, biochemical engineering, etc. This discipline studies basic theories and research skills of these majors. This is a science major. Students will be conferred the bachelor’s degree of science. |
| 3 | Engineering | Biomedical engineering | 083001 | Biological Engineering | bachelor | 4 | Biological Engineering is an interdisciplinary emerging discipline combined with biology, chemical engineering and other disciplines. This major set foot on bioengineering products development, procedure of industrialization, production techniques and improvements, enlargement of bioengineering and equipment selection, etc. The sub-disciplines of this major include organic chemistry, biochemistry, microbiology, chemical engineering principle, fermentation engineering, bioreaction engineering, experiment in bio-separation engineering, bioengineering equipment, etc. This is a fundamental and applied major. Students will be conferred the bachelor’s degree of engineering. |
二．Majors of master
| No. | Category of discipline | Discipline | Code | Name of Major | Level | Years | Major / Discipline Introduction |
| 1 | Natural science | ecology | 071300 | Ecology | master | 3 | Animal Behavior Ecology is a basic branch of ecology which involves zoology, ethology and ecology. It studies the relationship between animal behavior patterns and their surroundings from the ranks of the individual animals and groups. The major research areas include: 1)Based on the relationship between plants and animals, centered on the seed dispersal and storage, researches will be carried out on the patterns, process and influencing factors of animals' food-hoarding behavior to reveal the influencing mechanism of food-hoarding animals to the self-restoration of forests. 2) Based on the ecology and ethology of the rare and endangered wild animals in Poyang Lake basin, and the study of the structure and pattern of wildlife diversity, monitoring and evaluation will be carried out to serve for the establishment of natural reservation and the protection and sustainable utilization of wild animals. 3) With the aim of making contributions to agriculture and forestry production and integrated pest management, researches will be conducted on the behavior patterns and adaptability of agriculture and forestry pests and urban insects based on the theories of ecology and ethology. At present, the direction of this discipline has formed distinctive local features and academic advantages in fields like ecology of animals' food-hoarding behaviors, protection and utilization of wild animals, and endangered wildlife ecology, etc. In recent years, this discipline has undertaken more than 20 projects above the provincial and ministerial level, including the Natural Science Foundation of China and the Provincial Natural Science Foundation, with a total project fund of over four million yuan. Members of the college have published more than 100 papers in world-renowned journals such as Forest Ecology and Management, Oikos and Journal Biology, with more than 50 were included in SCT. At present, there are one professor, four associate professors and one lecturer in this discipline direction. All the cadres of academic echelon below 45 years old have doctorate degrees. Wetland Ecology: This program carries out researches related to Poyang Lake wetland in the aspects of the process of ecological、environmental monitoring and evaluation、 biodiversity and ecosystem diversity, measures and strategy of the restoration and reconstruction; it studies the impact of human activities such as Poyang Lake wetland vegetation evolution, physical environment, soil environment changes on the ecological environment. This subject studies the problems of water pollution and ecological security; it also studies the heavy metals distribution in wetland ecosystem and the ecological restoration of the plant, and the distribution, migration and transformation of heavy metals in different parts of wetland ecosystem, and ecological remediation and control technology of heavy metals and other non-point source pollutants ,and the benefits in economy and society and environmental of the development and different utilization of these wetland resources; sustainable development and utilization of wetland resources. At present, the study in wetland ecology has formed regional advantages and local characteristics in the aspect of the protection of wetland ecological environment and resource utilization. In recent five years ,we have undertaken more than twenty scientific research, including projects funded by National Natural Science Foundation, the national Ministry of science and technology program in 12th Five-Year, the Provincial Natural Science Foundation, provincial science and technology program and other provincial and ministerial level scientific research projects. The total project funds has amounted to nearly four million yuan. The faculty published nearly one hundred papers in the Journal of Ecology , Journal of Soil, Journal of Environmental Science , Journal of Resources and Ecology, Journal of Integrative Agriculture, Phyton International Journal of Experimental Botany, Environmental Science Research and other domestic and international publications, and obtained five national patents. The team has two professors, two associate professors, one lecturer, and all of them are PhDs. |
A list of the course of Life Sciences College
1. Undergraduate course
| No. | Code | Course Name | Level |
| 1 | 261806 | Phytobiology | Bachelor |
| 2 | 266061 | Experiment of Plant biology | Bachelor |
| 3 | 261904 | Zoo Biology | Bachelor |
| 4 | 266062 | Experiment of zoobiology Experiment of Zoology | Bachelor |
| 5 | 266070 | Human Anatomy and Physiology | Bachelor |
| 6 | 266143 | Experiment of Human Anatomy and Physiology | Bachelor |
| 7 | 261042 | Biochemistry | Bachelor |
| 8 | 266003 | Experiment of Biochemistry | Bachelor |
| 9 | 261813 | Cell Biology | Bachelor |
| 10 | 266910 | Experiment of Cell Biology | Bachelor |
| 11 | 266005 | Molecular Biology | Bachelor |
| 12 | 266063 | Experiment of Molecular Biology | Bachelor |
| 13 | 261062 | Microbiology | Bachelor |
| 14 | 266706 | Experiment of Microbiology | Bachelor |
| 15 | 266142 | Ecology | Bachelor |
| 16 | 266067 | Ecology Experiment | Bachelor |
| 17 | 266147 | Disciplinary Teaching Theory·Biological | Bachelor |
| 18 | 266055 | Genetics | Bachelor |
| 19 | 266056 | Genetics Experiment | Bachelor |
| 20 | 250483 | Training of Biology Classroom Teaching Skills | Bachelor |
| 21 | 266098 | Design of Biological Experiment Teaching and Skill Training | Bachelor |
| 22 | 024004 | Education Practice | Bachelor |
| 23 | 266164 | Graduation Design (Paper) | Bachelor |
| 24 | 266044 | Experiment of Biological Taxonomy(Zootaxy) | Bachelor |
| 25 | 266060 | Experiment of Biological Taxonomy(Plant systematics) | Bachelor |
| 26 | 256414 | Teacher’s interviewed skill | Bachelor |
| 27 | 256415 | Case Analysis of Biological Class | Bachelor |
| 28 | 266071 | Animal physiology | Bachelor |
| 29 | 266088 | Experiment of Animal Physiology | Bachelor |
| 30 | 266072 | Plant physiology | Bachelor |
| 31 | 266074 | Experiment of Plant Physiology | Bachelor |
| 32 | 266165 | | Bachelor |
| 33 | 266050 | Immunobiology | Bachelor |
| 34 | 266146 | Lecture on Modern Biological Science and Technology | Bachelor |
| 35 | 266091 | Modern Methods of Experimental Design and Data Processing | Bachelor |
| 36 | 266075 | Facture of Biological Specimen | Bachelor |
| 37 | 266057 | Fermentation Engineering | Bachelor |
| 38 | 266076 | Bio-instruments Analysis | Bachelor |
| 39 | 266133 | Professional English of Biology | Bachelor |
| 40 | 266119 | Genetic Engineering | Bachelor |
| 41 | 266118 | Enzyme Engineering | Bachelor |
| 42 | 266095 | Bioinformatics | Bachelor |
| 43 | 266073 | Literature Retrieval and Paper Writing | Bachelor |
| 44 | 266120 | Cell Engineering | Bachelor |
| 45 | 266046 | Comprehensive Experiment of Biological Science and Technology | Bachelor |
| 46 | 250452 | | Bachelor |
| 47 | 249007 | | Bachelor |
| 48 | 250453 | | Bachelor |
| 49 | 250485 | The Forefront of Teaching Reform of Biology in Middle School | Bachelor |
| 50 | | Supervisoring for Biological Competition of Middle School | Bachelor |
| 51 | 266163 | | Bachelor |
| 52 | 266006 | ComprehensiveExperiment of Biotechnology | Bachelor |
| 53 | 024002 | GraduationPractice(Professional Practice) | Bachelor |
| 54 | 266090 | Biochemical Pharmaceutical | Bachelor |
| 55 | 266080 | Microbial Pharmaceutics | Bachelor |
| 56 | 266018 | Environmental Biotechnology | Bachelor |
| 57 | 266050 | Immunobiology | Bachelor |
| 58 | 266081 | Immunobiology Experiment | Bachelor |
| 59 | 261806 | Plant Biology | Bachelor |
| 60 | 266061 | Plant Biology Experiment | Bachelor |
| 61 | 266092 | Microbial Physiology | Bachelor |
| 62 | 266089 | Microbial Physiology Experiment | Bachelor |
| 63 | 266219 | Developmental Biology | Bachelor |
| 64 | 266082 | Economic Animal Science | Bachelor |
| 65 | 266220 | Neurobiology | Bachelor |
| 66 | 266076 | Bio-instrumental analysis | Bachelor |
| 67 | 261837 | Natural product chemistry | Bachelor |
| 68 | 266079 | Technology of Microbial Genetics and Breeding | Bachelor |
| 69 | 266744 | Pharmacy | Bachelor |
| 70 | 003041 | Pharmaceutical Botany | Bachelor |
| 71 | 254500 | Garden Botany | Bachelor |
| 72 | 266222 | The Technology of Plant Tissue Culture | Bachelor |
| 73 | 266077 | Chemical Engineering Principle | Bachelor |
| 74 | 266078 | Experiment in Chemical Engineering Principle | Bachelor |
| 75 | 266099 | Fermentation Engineering | Bachelor |
| 76 | 266100 | Experiment in Fermentation Engineering | Bachelor |
| 77 | 266115 | Bioreaction Engineering | Bachelor |
| 78 | 266141 | Experiment in Bioreaction Engineering | Bachelor |
| 79 | 261064 | Experiment in Bioseparation Engineering | Bachelor |
| 80 | 266108 | Bioseparation Engineering | Bachelor |
| 81 | 266114 | Bioengineering Equipment | Bachelor |
| 82 | 266045 | Experiment in Bioengineering and Biotechnology | Bachelor |
| 83 | 266125 | Modern Bioengineering Research Progress | Bachelor |
| 84 | 264337 | Basis of Electrical Engineering | Bachelor |
| 85 | 266122 | Bioengineering Graphics Base | Bachelor |
| 86 | 266033 | Biological Industrial Factory Design | Bachelor |
| 87 | 266153 | Genomics and proteomics | Bachelor |
| 88 | 266155 | Biological software and database | Bachelor |
| 89 | 266095 | Bioinformatics | Bachelor |
| 90 | 266158 | Biological scientific research training | Bachelor |
| 91 | 266076 | Bio-instruments Analysis | Bachelor |
| 92 | 266159 | Protein engineering | Bachelor |
| 93 | 266160 | Natural medicinal chemistry | Bachelor |
| 94 | 266080 | Microbial Pharmaceutics | Bachelor |
| 95 | 266139 | Modern Fermentation Metabolic Regulation | Bachelor |
| 96 | 261141 | Introduction of Food Science | Bachelor |
| 97 | 261840 | Enterprise management (Enterprise Learning) | Bachelor |
3. postgraduate course
| No. | Code | Course Name | Level |
| 1 | 01921026 | Professional English (biology) | Master |
| 2 | 01921027 | Advanced biochemistry and molecular biology | Master |
| 3 | 01921028 | Biological instrument analysis and experimental technology | Master |
| 4 | 01921029 | Natural Products Chemistry | Master |
| 5 | 01921030 | Food Chemistry | Master |
| 6 | 01921031 | Advance in Life Science | Master |
| 7 | 01921032 | Current Protocols for Molecular Biology | Master |
| 8 | 01921033 | Microbial physiology | Master |
| 9 | 01921034 | Microbial genetics | Master |
| 10 | 01921035 | Senior plant molecular genetics | Master |
| 11 | 01921036 | Analysis of plant chemical compounds | Master |
| 12 | 01921037 | Advances in the research of Food Biochemistry | Master |
| 13 | 01921038 | Food Biotechnology | Master |
| 14 | 01921039 | Advanced Cellular and Molecular Biology | Master |
| 15 | 01921040 | Molecular Immunology | Master |
| 16 | 01921041 | Modern techniques in microbiology | Master |
| 17 | 01921042 | Microbial genomics | Master |
| 18 | 01921043 | Advance in Botany | Master |
| 19 | 01921044 | Conservation and Exploitation of Wild Plant Resources | Master |
| 20 | 01921045 | Food processing and preservation | Master |
| 21 | 01921046 | Bioinformatics | Master |
| 22 | 01921047 | Protein Engineering | Master |
| 23 | 01921048 | Experimental design method and data processing | Master |
| 24 | 01921049 | Resource microbiology | Master |
| 25 | 01921050 | Advanced in Microbiology | Master |
| 26 | 01921051 | How to Read and Write a Scientific Paper | Master |
| 27 | 01921052 | Cell Engineering | Master |
| 28 | 01921001 | Specialized English in Biology | Master |
| 29 | 01921002 | Fundamentals of Ecology | Master |
| 30 | 01921003 | Application of 3S Technology in Ecological Science | Master |
| 31 | 01921004 | Animal behavior | Master |
| 32 | 01921005 | Animal Systematic Taxonomy | Master |
| 33 | 01921006 | Animal Physiology | Master |
| 34 | 01921007 | Wetland Ecology | Master |
| 35 | 01921008 | Molecular Ecology | Master |
| 36 | 01921009 | Pollution Ecology | Master |
| 37 | 01921013 | Frontier Technology in Animal Ecology and Conservation Biology | Master |
| 38 | 01921014 | Conservation Biology | Master |
| 39 | 01921015 | Wetland and Lake Ecosystem Observation Methods | Master |
| 40 | 01921016 | Soil Ecology Research Methods and Frontier | Master |
| 41 | 01921020 | Zoogeography | Master |
| 42 | 01921021 | Mathematics and Statistics for Life Scientists | Master |
| 43 | 01921022 | Applied Ecology | Master |
| 44 | 01921023 | Quantitive Ecology | Master |
