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. Health & Medicine

    A blood test may show which COVID-19 patients steroids will help — or harm

    An inflammation marker was a good indicator of which patients had lower or higher risks of dying or needing a ventilator when given steroids.

  2. Health & Medicine

    COVID-19 vaccines by Oxford, CanSino and Pfizer all trigger immune responses

    In three clinical trials, vaccine candidates appear safe and induce the production of antibodies and other immune cell responses against the coronavirus.

  3. Health & Medicine

    Remdesivir may work even better against COVID-19 than we thought

    Gilead Sciences says remdesivir cuts the chances of dying from the coronavirus, and data show the drug can curb the virus’s growth in cells and mice.

  4. Health & Medicine

    A COVID-19 vaccine may come soon. Will the blistering pace backfire?

    Speed is essential, but not at the expense of safety and efficacy, experts warn. Sacrificing either could damage public trust.

  5. Health & Medicine

    Why scientists say wearing masks shouldn’t be controversial

    New data suggest that cloth masks work to reduce coronavirus cases, though less well than medical masks.

  6. Health & Medicine

    Millions of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. may have gone undiagnosed in March

    Millions of people in the United States went to the doctor in March with influenza-like symptoms. Many may have had COVID-19, a study suggests.

  7. Health & Medicine

    The steroid dexamethasone is the first drug shown to reduce COVID-19 deaths

    The drug might save one of every eight people on ventilators and one of 25 on oxygen.

  8. Health & Medicine

    The FDA has canceled emergency use of hydroxychloroquine for COVID-19

    The malaria drug is unlikely to work as an antiviral and its risks don’t outweigh benefits in use against the coronavirus, the agency rules.

  9. Health & Medicine

    How often do asymptomatic people spread the coronavirus? It’s unclear

    A WHO official said people without COVID-19 symptoms rarely spread the virus, but there’s a lot that researchers don’t yet understand.

  10. Health & Medicine

    Taking hydroxychloroquine may not prevent COVID-19 after exposure

    Hydroxychloroquine didn’t protect health-care workers from getting sick after being exposed to someone with COVID-19, a new study shows.

  11. Genetics

    Genetic risk factors for Alzheimer’s also raise the risk of getting COVID-19

    People who have the APOE4 genetic variant appear to be more vulnerable to the disease, but it’s unclear why.

  12. Health & Medicine

    Politics aside, hydroxychloroquine could (maybe) help fight COVID-19

    Hydroxychloroquine may help prevent COVID-19, or it may not. Studies are under way to find out. Meanwhile, here’s what we know.