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. Life

    Biologists are one step closer to creating snake venom in the lab

    Milking snakes for venom may soon no longer be needed to make antidotes for bites.

  2. Life

    Getting goose bumps could boost hair growth

    The same nerves and muscles that create goose bumps may make hair grow.

  3. Life

    Dads, not just moms, can pass along mitochondrial DNA

    Data from three families suggest that in rare cases children can inherit mitochondria from their fathers.

  4. Genetics

    The researcher who created CRISPR twins defends his work but fails to quell controversy

    After getting a glimpse of data behind the birth of the first gene-edited babies, many scientists question the study’s ethics and medical necessity.

  5. Genetics

    Chinese scientists raise ethical questions with first gene-edited babies

    Scientists say gene editing of human embryos isn’t yet safe, and creating babies was unethical.

  6. Life

    Gut bacteria may guard against diabetes that comes with aging

    A friendly microbe in the gut may be the key to staving off insulin resistance, a study in mice finds.

  7. Genetics

    Coffee or tea? Your preference may be written in your DNA

    Coffee or tea is a bitter choice, a taste genetics study suggests.

  8. Genetics

    Ancient DNA suggests people settled South America in at least 3 waves

    Genetic studies of ancient remains are filling in the picture of who the earliest Americans were and how they spread through the Americas long ago.

  9. Life

    The number of calories you burn while resting depends on the time of day

    This daily cycle of calorie burning is one of the many body processes that follow a biological clock.

  10. Life

    A mash-up of yeast and E. coli shows how mitochondria might have evolved

    An engineered partnership between yeast and E. coli suggests one way mitochondria may have evolved.

  11. Life

    Eating less protein may help curb gut bacteria’s growth

    A new study in mice and 30 mammal species hints at what controls the types and amounts of gut microbes, which can contribute to health and disease.

  12. Life

    To get a deeper tan, don’t sunbathe every day

    Skin cells make protective melanin on a 48-hour cycle.