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

    Softer surroundings stifle some chemotherapy drugs

    Some anticancer drugs such as Gleevec are less effective when attacking cancer cells grown in soft surroundings.

  2. Earth

    Mineralogy’s link to ecology makes an Earth twin unlikely

    Earth’s unique blend of minerals emerged with the evolution of life, making it extremely unlikely that another planet has Earth’s exact mineral composition.

  3. Archaeology

    Magnetism paved way for excavation without digging

    In the 1960s, archaeologists used a new technique to locate and map a submerged Greek city without digging.

  4. Life

    Tadpole eye transplant shows new way to grow nerves

    Wiring replacement organs into the body may be as easy as discharging a biological battery, new experiments with tadpoles suggest.

  5. Life

    Norovirus can play protective role in mice

    In mice, viral infection can help intestines develop, strengthen immune system.

  6. Neuroscience

    Protein production prevents sleep-loss forgetfulness

    Boosting levels of certain proteins in mice prevented memory problems associated with sleep deprivation.

  7. Genetics

    Human thoughts control mouse genes

    Human brain waves trigger light that activates protein production in rodents.

  8. Genetics

    Genes tell tale of cat domestication

    A peek into cats’ genetic makeup may help reveal how hissing wild felines became purring tabbies.

  9. Life

    Gut microbes less diverse in humans than in apes

    An analysis of gut bacteria shows that humans have evolved to possess less diversity in microbe populations.

  10. Genetics

    Men who lose Y chromosome have high risk of cancer

    Losing the Y chromosome in blood cells may bring on cancer and shorten men’s lives.

  11. Humans

    Anglo-Saxons left language, but maybe not genes to modern Britons

    Modern Britons may be more closely related to Britain’s indigenous people than they are to the Anglo-Saxons, a new genetic analysis finds.

  12. Genetics

    Gene variant helps dog evade muscular dystrophy

    A dog that has a mutation causing muscular dystrophy has another genetic variant that appears to counteract the disease.