Erin Garcia de Jesús

Staff Writer

Erin Garcia de Jesús is a staff writer at Science News. She holds a Ph.D. in microbiology from the University of Washington, where she studied virus/host co-evolution. After deciding science as a whole was too fascinating to spend a career studying one topic, she went on to earn a master’s in science communication from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her writing has appeared in Nature News, Science, Eos, Smithsonian Voices and more, and she was the winter 2019 science writing intern at Science News.

All Stories by Erin Garcia de Jesús

  1. Microbes

    A chain mail–like armor may shield C. difficile from some antibiotics

    Examining the structures that protect Clostridioides difficile from medicines could help researchers find new ways to target and kill the bacteria.

  2. Health & Medicine

    The COVID-19 pandemic is not an on-off switch

    The pandemic is more of a dimmer switch, and it will be a slow slide to the endemic phase, says epidemiologist Aubree Gordon.

  3. Genetics

    Gene therapies for sickle cell disease come with hope and challenges

    Pediatrician Erica Esrick discusses existing sickle cell treatments and an ongoing clinical trial.

  4. Health & Medicine

    Omicron crushed delta in the U.S. These numbers show just how fast it happened

    It took the delta coronavirus variant eight weeks to make up more than 50 percent of new U.S. COVID-19 infections, estimates show. It took omicron two.

  5. Genetics

    How one scientist aims to boost Black people’s representation in genetic datasets

    Through information sharing, geneticist Tshaka Cunningham wants to build trust and encourage more Black people to engage with the medical community.

  6. Health & Medicine

    Genetically engineered immune cells have kept two people cancer-free for a decade

    Long-lasting leukemia remission prompts doctors to call CAR-T cell therapy a ‘cure’ for some.

  7. Animals

    Gut microbes help some squirrels stay strong during hibernation

    Microbes living in the critters’ guts take nitrogen from urea and put it into the amino acid glutamine, helping squirrels retain muscle in the winter.

  8. Humans

    Babies may use saliva sharing to figure out relationships

    Actions like sharing bites of food or kissing may cue young children into close bonds, a new study suggests.

  9. Genetics

    A genetic analysis hints at why COVID-19 can mess with smell

    People with some genetic variants close to smell-related genes had an 11 percent higher risk of losing their sense of taste or smell.

  10. Health & Medicine

    The omicron variant is surging. Here’s what we’ve learned so far

    Omicron is better at evading virus-attacking antibodies than previous coronavirus variants, but there are signs booster shots might help curb symptoms.

  11. Health & Medicine

    Why the coronavirus’s delta variant dominated 2021

    Mapping delta’s unique group of mutations and how they enhance the virus’s life cycle show why the variant spread so easily and caused so much havoc.

  12. Microbes

    A bacteria-virus arms race could lead to a new way to treat shigellosis

    As bacteria that cause shigellosis evolve to escape a virus, the microbes may become less deadly, a hopeful sign for “phage therapy.”