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. Health & Medicine

    Resveratrol’s anticancer benefits show up in low doses

    Small amounts of the compound found in red wine and grapes prove protective against colon cancer in mice fed a high-fat diet.

  2. Life

    Cells from grandma help keep fetus safe

    Grandmother’s cells may watch over grandchildren in the womb.

  3. Genetics

    Research teams duel over Native American origins

    Genetic link between Australia and the Amazon fuels two interpretations of Native American origins.

  4. Neuroscience

    Breakdown of Alzheimer’s protein slows with age

    It takes longer to get rid of an Alzheimer’s-associated protein with age.

  5. Health & Medicine

    Mosquitoes can get a double dose of malaria

    Carrying malaria may make mosquitoes more susceptible to infection with a second strain of the parasite that causes the disease.

  6. Plants

    Defense hormones guide plant roots’ mix of microbes

    Plants use salicylic acid to attract some bacteria to roots and repel others.

  7. Genetics

    Enormous quantities may soon be called ‘genomical’

    Genetic data may soon reach beyond astronomical proportions.

  8. Life

    The origin of biological clocks

    Most of Earth’s creatures keep time with the planet’s day/night cycle. Scientists are still debating how and why the circadian clocks that govern biological timekeeping evolved.

  9. Animals

    Some animals’ internal clocks follow a different drummer

    Circadian clocks in some animals tick-tock to a different beat.

  10. Life

    Cutting calories lets yeast live longer

    A new study confirms yeast live longer on fewer calories.

  11. Genetics

    Mutation-disease link masked in zebrafish

    Zebrafish study shows organisms can work around DNA mutations.

  12. Health & Medicine

    New cases of Ebola emerge in Liberia

    Liberia has recorded three new Ebola cases after being declared free of the disease in May.