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

    Disabling enzyme could block Zika

    Disrupting a key Zika enzyme shows preliminary promise.

  2. Life

    Cell biologists learn how Zika kills brain cells, devise schemes to stop it

    Cell biologists are learning more about how the Zika virus disrupts brain cells to cause microcephaly. Meanwhile, several strategies to combat the virus show preliminary promise.

  3. Life

    Cells avoiding suicide may play role in spread of cancer

    A newly discovered process can pull cells back from the brink of death.

  4. Genetics

    Epigenetic marks may help assess toxic exposure risk — someday

    Exposure to things in the environment may change chemical tags on DNA and proteins, but it’s still unclear how to use that data to assess health risks.

  5. Life

    Having an extra chromosome has a surprising effect on cancer

    Extra chromosome copies may protect against, not cause, cancer.

  6. Life

    Cell distress chemicals help embryos quickly heal

    The chemicals trigger drawstring-like structures that help close wounds.

  7. Life

    Mitochondria variants battle for cell supremacy

    Some mitochondria are more competitive than others, which could complicate treatments for mitochondrial diseases.

  8. Life

    Tiny toxic proteins help gut bacteria defeat rivals

    A strain of E. coli makes competition-killing tiny proteins and soothes inflamed intestines.

  9. Health & Medicine

    Chinese patient is first to be treated with CRISPR-edited cells

    Researchers used CRISPR/Cas9 to engineer immune cells that were then injected into a patient with lung cancer, the journal Nature reports.

  10. Life

    Protein mobs kill cells that most need those proteins to survive

    A protein engineered to aggregate gives clues about how clumpy proteins kill brain cells.

  11. Genetics

    Gene gives mice and chipmunks their pinstripes

    A recycled regulator paints on rodents’ light stripes.

  12. Genetics

    Genetic variant protects against rash of autoimmune diseases

    A natural tweak in the TYK2 protein strikes a balance between weak and overactive immune systems.