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

    Mutations that drive cancer lurk in healthy skin

    Healthy tissue carries mutations that drive cancer, samples of normal skin cells show.

  2. Genetics

    Ancient DNA pushes back timing of the origin of dogs

    DNA extracted from the fossil of an ancient wolf indicates dogs and wolves diverged longer ago than previously thought.

  3. Genetics

    How to rewire the eye

    The cutting-edge technology called optogenetics may offer a workaround to partially restore vision even after the retina’s light-sensing rods and cones die.

  4. Genetics

    MicroRNAs track radiation doses

    MicroRNAs in the blood may indicate radiation damage, a study of mice finds.

  5. Genetics

    Humans and Neandertals mated more recently than thought

    Neandertals and humans interbred in Europe until shortly before Neandertals went extinct.

  6. Genetics

    Tameness is in the genes

    Taming affects common genes in multiple species.

  7. Genetics

    Editing human germline cells sparks ethics debate

    Human gene editing experiments raise scientific and societal questions.

  8. Genetics

    Gene therapy for blindness dims a bit

    Gene therapy improves vision temporarily but can’t save sight.

  9. Plants

    Medfly control methods were ready for pest’s influx

    50 years ago, researchers prepared to greet Mediterranean fruit flies with sterile males.

  10. Genetics

    Gene in human embryos altered by Chinese researchers

    Chinese researchers have genetically altered human embryos.

  11. Genetics

    Genetic editing can delete deleterious mitochondria

    A new technique slates mutant mitochondria for destruction.

  12. Genetics

    Depression leaves lasting mark on DNA

    Stress affects cells at the molecular level.