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. Genetics

    DNA evidence is rewriting domestication origin stories

    DNA studies are rewriting the how-we-met stories of domestication.

  2. Genetics

    Horse version of ‘Who’s your daddy?’ answered

    Genetics and horse pedigrees reveal all modern domestic stallions’ sires.

  3. Life

    Chronic flu patients could be an early warning system for future outbreaks

    Cancer patients’ long-term flu infections may preview future viruses.

  4. Life

    Scientists spy on the secret inner life of bacteria

    New images reveal the inner workings of bacteria.

  5. Genetics

    DNA reveals how cats achieved world domination

    Analysis of 9,000 years of cat remains suggests two waves of migration

  6. Health & Medicine

    New heart attack treatment uses photosynthetic bacteria to make oxygen

    Photosynthetic bacteria can produce oxygen to keep rat heart muscles healthy after a heart attack.

  7. Health & Medicine

    Therapy flags DNA typos to rev cancer-fighting T cells

    Genetic tests help identify cancer patients who will benefit from immune therapy.

  8. Health & Medicine

    Choosing white or whole-grain bread may depend on what lives in your gut

    Gut microbes determine how people’s blood sugar levels respond to breads.

  9. Life

    When it comes to the flu, the nose has a long memory

    Mice noses have specialty immune cells with long memories.

  10. Genetics

    Jumping genes play a big role in what makes us human

    Jumping genes have been a powerful force in human evolution.

  11. Health & Medicine

    Breast cancer cells spread in an already-armed mob

    Source tumors may already contain the mutations that drive aggressive cancer spread.

  12. Science & Society

    Fox experiment is replaying domestication in fast-forward

    How to Tame a Fox recounts a nearly 60-year experiment in Russia to domesticate silver foxes.