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

    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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

  6. 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.

  7. Health & Medicine

    There are two versions of the coronavirus. One’s not more dangerous than the other

    Factors such as a person’s age and white blood cell counts matter more for disease severity when it comes to COVID-19, a study finds.

  8. Health & Medicine

    As we wait for a vaccine, here’s a snapshot of potential COVID-19 treatments

    Though a vaccine remains the ultimate goal, researchers are on the hunt for new ways to treat COVID-19.

  9. Health & Medicine

    Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine stimulates an immune response in people

    An mRNA vaccine triggers the immune system to make as many virus-blocking antibodies as in people who have recovered from COVID-19, early data show.

  10. Humans

    A gene variant partly explains why Peruvians are among the world’s shortest people

    A gene variant reduces some Peruvians’ height by about 2 centimeters, on average, the biggest effect on stature found for a common variation in DNA.

  11. Health & Medicine

    The new COVID-19 drug remdesivir is here. Now what?

    Remdesivir may shorten recovery time for some people, but it isn’t available to everyone and it won’t end the pandemic on its own.

  12. Health & Medicine

    Loss of smell and taste may actually be one of the clearest signs of COVID-19

    Data from a symptom tracker smartphone app used by millions of people shows two-thirds of positive patients reported losing these senses.