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

    Water bears are genetic mash-ups

    Drying out may help tardigrades soak up new DNA, which in turn aids the water bears in withstanding stress.

  2. Life

    DNA doubled in conifer ancestors

    The genomes of conifers — pine, cypress and yew trees — doubled twice in the distant past.

  3. Plants

    Conifer ancestors had a double dose of DNA

    The genomes of conifers — pine, cypress and yew trees — doubled twice in the distant past.

  4. Genetics

    Mosquitoes engineered to zap ability to carry malaria

    Researchers have created a gene drive that prevents mosquitoes from carrying malaria.

  5. Science & Society

    Genetically modified salmon gets approval in U.S.

    Fast-growing salmon become first genetically engineered animals approved for human consumption.

  6. Health & Medicine

    A good diet for you may be bad for me

    Eating the same foods can produce very different reactions in people.

  7. Genetics

    New catalog of human genetic variation could improve diagnosis

    Study of human protein-coding variation reveals which genes are more likely to be involved in genetic diseases.

  8. Life

    ‘Racing Extinction’ documents plight of endangered species

    The new documentary "Racing Extinction" offers hope that people can halt the sixth mass extinction.

  9. Life

    Gene editing helps a baby battle cancer

    Doctors used molecular scalpels to tweak T cells to target leukemia but not harm the patient.

  10. Health & Medicine

    Parasite gives a man cancer

    Tapeworms can kick parasitism up a notch to become cancer, a case in Colombia shows.

  11. Life

    Cats versus viruses: Arms race goes back millennia

    A special protein has been protecting cats from feline AIDS for at least 60,000 years, genetic analysis suggests.

  12. Animals

    Cat-versus-virus arms race goes back millennia

    Researchers have found evidence of an ancient arms race between Felis silvestris catus, the species familiar today as the domestic cat, and feline immuno­deficiency virus.