Tina Hesman Saey

Tina Hesman Saey

Senior Writer, Molecular Biology

Senior writer Tina Hesman Saey is a geneticist-turned-science writer who covers all things microscopic and a few too big to be viewed under a microscope. She is an honors graduate of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln where she did research on tobacco plants and ethanol-producing bacteria. She spent a year as a Fulbright scholar at the Georg-August University in Göttingen, Germany, studying microbiology and traveling.  Her work on how yeast turn on and off one gene earned her a Ph.D. in molecular genetics at Washington University in St. Louis. Tina then rounded out her degree collection with a master’s in science journalism from Boston University. She interned at the Dallas Morning News and Science News before returning to St. Louis to cover biotechnology, genetics and medical science for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. After a seven year stint as a newspaper reporter, she returned to Science News. Her work has been honored by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, the Endocrine Society, the Genetics Society of America and by journalism organizations.

All Stories by Tina Hesman Saey

  1. Foul Play: Genetics may affect athlete doping tests

    Athletes' genetic makeup may allow them to beat anti-doping tests.

  2. Dad’s Hidden Influence

    Fathers share more than genes with their children. Where a man works, the chemicals he is exposed to, and even his age can leave a medical legacy for future children.

  3. Alzheimer’s mystery protein unmasked

    A protein linked to Alzheimer's disease may help young people forget, too.

  4. Aging Factor: Gene mutations may be key to long life

    Some centenarians carry mutations in a pathway associated with longevity in worms and fruit flies.

  5. Health & Medicine

    Sun, inflammation speed aging of skin

    Gene profiles show inflammation is the key to making skin age, and sun exposure speeds the process.

  6. Micromanagers

    Some scientists believe the human brain is the creation of RNA. Only noncoding RNAs are plentiful, and powerful enough to handle the billions of complex interactions the brain faces every day.

  7. Swell, a Pain Lesson: Gut microbes needed for immune development

    Intestinal bacteria train the immune system to cause pain and swelling, but that's a good thing.

  8. More evidence that flies sleep like people

    A brain chemical puts fruit flies to sleep.

  9. Growing Up to Prozac: Drug makes new neurons mature faster

    Prozac may relieve depression by stimulating growth and maturation of neurons in some parts of the brain.

  10. Health & Medicine

    Warning Sign: Genetic fragments tag cancer severity

    High levels of the microRNA miR-21 lead to poor prognoses for colon cancer patients.

  11. Code Breakers

    Scientists are altering bacteria in a most fundamental way.

  12. Earth

    Prescribed fire burns out of control

    A fire set by the National Park Service to clear underbrush burned out of control, consuming more than 44,000 acres around Los Alamos, N.M.