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. Humans

    Lawrence David’s gut check gets personal

    Computational biologist Lawrence David regularly opens himself to new scientific challenges, including tracking his own microbiome.

  2. Life

    How one scientist’s gut microbes changed over a year

    Computational biologist Lawrence David chronicled changes in his gut microbes for a year.

  3. Genetics

    To study Galápagos cormorants, a geneticist gets creative

    To collect DNA from four cormorant species, this scientist called in bird scientists far and wide.

  4. Health & Medicine

    Mixing Pokémon Go and driving isn’t safe

    Pokémon Go alters reality to driver’s detriment, a new study finds.

  5. Life

    Color vision strategy defies textbook picture

    Cone cells in the retina see in black and white and color.

  6. Health & Medicine

    Tasmanian devils evolve resistance to contagious cancer

    Tasmanian devils are evolving resistance to a deadly contagious cancer.

  7. Genetics

    Genes help snub-nosed monkeys live the high life

    Snub nosed monkeys have certain genetic variants that help them breathe easy in low oxygen.

  8. Neuroscience

    Computers refine epilepsy treatment

    Surgeons harnessed computers in 1966 to pinpoint source of epilepsy in the brain.

  9. Genetics

    Thank (or blame) your genes for ability to handle java jolt

    A gene involved in caffeine processing may control coffee consumption.

  10. Health & Medicine

    Weapon of bone destruction identified

    Scientists discover myeloma’s secret bone-destroying messenger.

  11. Life

    CRISPR inspires new tricks to edit genes

    CRISPR/Cas9 has been a rockstar gene-editing tool for just four years and it’s already being tweaked to do more things better.

  12. Genetics

    Darwin’s Dogs wants your dog’s DNA

    The Darwin’s Dogs citizen science project is collecting canine DNA to better understand dog genetics and behavior.