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. Genetics

    Evolution of venom, binge eating seen in snake DNA

    Python and cobra genes evolved quickly to enable hunting strategies.

  2. Life

    Chemotherapy needs gut bacteria to work

    Antibiotics may prevent anticancer drugs from killing tumors.

  3. Genetics

    Ancient Siberian bones clarify Native American origins

    Some New World ancestors came from western Eurasia, not East Asia.

  4. Genetics

    Dogs’ origins lie in Europe

    First domesticated canines did not live in China or Middle East, a study of mitochondrial DNA finds.

  5. Genetics

    Genetic difference in blood clotting may underlie racial health disparity

    Finding could help explain difference between blacks and whites in heart attack survival.

  6. Life

    Steroids boost muscles for the long haul

    Experiments in mice suggest that effects don’t end when doping does.

  7. Genetics

    People’s genes welcome their microbes

    In mice and humans, genetic variants seem to control the bacterial mix on and in bodies.

  8. Genetics

    Genetic variants may keep Siberians warm

    People in frigid cold evolved changes in fat metabolism, shivering.

  9. Genetics

    Reprogrammed stem cells may mirror embryonic ones after all

    Donor genetics may explain why the two cell types vary.

  10. Health & Medicine

    Gene links smoking, multiple sclerosis

    Smokers with genetic variant face tripled risk of MS.

  11. Genetics

    Family takes on progeria in ‘Life According to Sam’

    A new documentary portrays an extraordinary search for a cure spurred by a teen with the premature aging disease.

  12. Neuroscience

    Sleep allows brain to wash out junk

    Discovery of fluids flowing in mice while they slumber could lead to better treatments for Alzheimer’s disease.