The School of Life Science at Shanxi university was founded in 2001 but with biological education traced back to 1949 as the department of biology. Currently, the school offers three undergraduate majors in biological science, bioengineering, and food science and engineering. The biological science is a national characteristic specialty. The school offers PhD and postdoctoral training in zoology, botany, aquatic biology, cell biology, biochemistry and molecular biology, and microbiology. The school also offers master degrees in zoology, botany, aquatic biology, cell biology, genetics, food science and engineering, food engineering, biotechnology and engineering, fermentation engineering, resource utilization and plant protection, and food processing and safety.

Based on the key laboratory of the ministry of education, the national demonstration center for experimental biology education, and the provincial key laboratories, the school has made several key advances in biochemistry and molecular biology, zoology, botany, and cell biology. The total value of the instruments and equipment is more than 100 million RMB. In the last five years, the cutting-edge findings of school resulted in many highly cited publications in high impact journals such as Nucleic Acids Research, Nature Communications, Biosensors and Bioelectronics, and Plant Physiology. In 2021, the Plant & Animal Science and Agricultural Science were listed in the ESI top 1%.

In recent years, the school has established collaborations with enterprises, including the Xinghuacun College and Shanxi Institute of Brewing Technology and Industry with Shanxi Xinghuacun Fenjiu Group Co., Ltd, the research center of food engineering with Shanxi food research institute, and the technology research center with Shuanghecheng food company. The school staff have also made a lot of important achievements with high-tech and good market returns.