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

    This biochemist brews a wild beer

    Wild beer studies are teaching scientists and brewers about the tropical fruit smell and sour taste of success.

  2. Health & Medicine

    Microbes hobble a widely used chemo drug

    Bacteria associated with cancer cells can inactivate a chemotherapy drug.

  3. Genetics

    Muscle pain in people on statins may have a genetic link

    Many people stop taking cholesterol drugs because of aches, but it has been unclear if the drugs are at fault.

  4. Life

    Wild yeasts are brewing up batches of trendy beers

    Wild beer studies are teaching scientists and brewers about the tropical fruit smell and sour taste of success.

  5. Life

    Embryos kill off male tissue to become female

    Female embryos actively dismantle male reproductive tissue, a textbook-challenging study suggests.

  6. Genetics

    Gene editing creates virus-free piglets

    Pigs engineered to lack infectious viruses may one day produce transplant organs.

  7. Genetics

    Gene editing of human embryos gets rid of a mutation that causes heart failure

    Gene editing of human embryos can efficiently repair a gene defect without making new mistakes.

  8. Space

    Potential ingredient for alien life found on Titan

    The atmosphere and oceans of Saturn’s moon Titan contain vinyl cyanide, a compound predicted to form cell-like bubbles.

  9. Genetics

    Tardigrades aren’t champion gene swappers after all

    Genetic studies reveal more secrets of the bizarre creatures known as tardigrades.

  10. Genetics

    50 years ago, diabetic mice offered hope for understanding human disease

    Mice described in 1967 are still helping researchers understand diabetes.

  11. Genetics

    Resistance to CRISPR gene drives may arise easily

    New tools for pest and disease control could become useless without improvements.

  12. Genetics

    Dog domestication happened just once, ancient DNA study suggests

    DNA of ancient canines counters idea that dogs were domesticated twice, in Europe and Asia.