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

    Genetic variant protects against rash of autoimmune diseases

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

  2. Genetics

    Ancient hookups gave chimps a smidge of bonobo DNA

    Genetic evidence suggests bonobos and chimpanzees interbred after becoming separate species.

  3. Genetics

    HIV came to NYC at least a decade before virus ID’d

    DNA analysis of early viral strains tracks U.S. debut to early ’70s

  4. Genetics

    DNA data offer evidence of unknown extinct human relative

    Melanesians may carry genetic evidence of a previously unknown extinct human relative.

  5. Genetics

    Zika disrupts cellular processes to impair brain development

    Discoveries about how Zika virus slows brain cell development could lead to treatments.

  6. Genetics

    ‘Three-parent babies’ explained

    Several in vitro techniques can produce babies with three biological parents.

  7. Life

    In a first, mouse eggs grown from skin cells

    Stem cells grown in ovary-mimicking conditions in a lab dish can make healthy mouse offspring, but technique still needs work.

  8. Chemistry

    Molecules for making nanomachines snare chemistry Nobel

    Nanochemists win Nobel prize for devising molecular machines

  9. Genetics

    Gene linked to autism in people may influence dog sociability

    DNA variants were linked to beagles’ tendency to seek human help.

  10. Genetics

    First ‘three-parent baby’ born from nuclear transfer

    The first human baby produced through spindle nuclear transfer was born in April, New Scientist reports.

  11. Genetics

    New era of human embryo gene editing begins

    Gene editing of viable human embryos is happening, in and out of the public eye.

  12. Genetics

    Single exodus from Africa gave rise to today’s non-Africans

    Genetics and climate studies differ on when modern humans left Africa.