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. Life

    Researchers pull fingers to solve why knuckles crack

    Knuckle cracking is the sound of a bubble forming in a joint, MRI images reveal.

  2. Health & Medicine

    Why cancer patients waste away

    A tumor-produced protein that interferes with insulin causes wasting in fruit flies with cancer.

  3. Plants

    From lemons to kumquats, roots of citrus variety dug up

    Citrus fruits’ lineage is traced through chloroplast DNA, revealing both maternal and paternal heritage.

  4. Genetics

    Mountain gorilla genome reveals inbreeding

    Mountain gorillas are highly inbred, with good and bad consequences.

  5. Genetics

    Contagious cancer found in clams

    A soft-shell clam disease is just the third example of a contagious cancer.

  6. Genetics

    Anti-inflammation genes linked to longer lives

    Inflammation-dampening genes fight oxidants and promote longer life spans.

  7. Health & Medicine

    A more accurate prenatal test to predict Down syndrome

    A test to detect genetic problems such as Down syndrome examines a baby’s DNA in the mother’s blood and may limit the need for more invasive screening.

  8. Life

    Turning the gut microbiome into a chat room

    Bacterial communication molecules can help shape microbial communities after antibiotics.

  9. Genetics

    History of the United Kingdom revealed in its genes

    A genetics study finds subtle differences that reveal secrets about the history and ancestry of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

  10. Humans

    History of the United Kingdom revealed in its genes

    A genetics study finds subtle differences that reveal secrets about the history and ancestry of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

  11. Life

    Finches can pass H7N9 bird flu to chickens

    In laboratory experiments, society finches spread H7N9 into water when they drank, infecting chickens and quail that drank the same water.

  12. Genetics

    The upside of a demolished chromosome

    A woman’s rare genetic disease was cured when a chromosome carrying the mutant gene shattered.