The School of Life and Environmental Sciences was formerly known as the Department of Biology, founded in 1984, and its history can be traced back to the Department of Biochemistry of Wenzhou Normal School established in 1958, which was renamed the Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences in 1999 and the School of Life and Environmental Sciences in 2003. It currently has two teaching units, the Department of Biology and the Department of Environmental Sciences, and manages two independent research institutes, the Institute of Life Sciences and the Institute of Virology.