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

    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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. Life

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

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

  5. Life

    Why some people may be more susceptible to deadly C. difficile infections

    Proline, a type of amino acid, increases when gut microbe mixes are disturbed, giving this pathogen a ready food source.

  6. Life

    How to make organ transplants last

    New strategies aim to help transplant recipients keep their organs healthy with fewer (or no) immune suppressing drugs.

  7. Genetics

    DNA differences are linked to having same-sex sexual partners

    Genetic differences are associated with choosing same-sex partners in both men and women.

  8. Genetics

    Genealogy databases could reveal the identity of most Americans

    Keeping your DNA private is getting harder.

  9. Life

    Gene editing creates mice with two biological dads for the first time

    Scientists have used CRISPR/Cas9 to make mice with two biological fathers.

  10. Plants

    50 years ago, a 550-year-old seed sprouted

    Old seeds can sprout new plants even after centuries of dormancy.

  11. Chemistry

    Speeding up the evolution of proteins wins the chemistry Nobel

    Work on evolving new proteins from old ones takes the Nobel Prize in chemistry.

  12. Health & Medicine

    Discovery of how to prod a patient’s immune system to fight cancer wins a Nobel

    Two scientists share the 2018 medicine Nobel for identifying proteins that act as brakes on tumor-fighting T cells.