From its very beginnings in 1910, the Residencia de Estudiantes demonstrated a great interest in science and contributed greatly to the initiatives of the Junta para Ampliación de Estudios to promote and modernize scientific education in Spain.

Since scientific education requires experimentation, the Residencia opened its first laboratory of chemistry, headed by José Sureda and later by José Ranedo, in 1912. The microscopic anatomy laboratory was established under Luis Calandre in 1914, and the physiological chemistry lab, headed by Antonio Madinaveitia, in 1915, with a department for research on metabolism led by José María Sacristán. The laboratory of physiology opened in 1916, with Juan Negrín in charge of the general physiology department (Severo Ochoa was one of his students), and Gonzalo Rodríguez Lafora as head of anatomy and physiology of the nerve centers section. The students could use the laboratories of the Instituto Nacional de Ciencias, in the nearby Museo de Ciencias Naturales.

The Residencia de Estudiantes also regularly organized courses and lectures, and published the new theories that overturned the established scientific axioms.