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

    Ebola genome clarifies origins of West African outbreak

    Genetic analyses suggest that a single infected person sparked the ongoing Ebola epidemic in West Africa.

  2. Life

    New gut-dwelling virus is surprisingly common

    It’s not clear yet whether the bacteriophage crAssphage, found in people’s intestines, has any health effects.

  3. Genetics

    Long before Columbus, seals brought tuberculosis to South America

    Evidence from the skeletons of ancient Peruvians shows that seals may have brought tuberculosis across an ocean from Africa.

  4. Humans

    Antibiotics in infancy may cause obesity in adults

    By altering the microbiome of infant mice, drugs predisposed the animals to gain fat as adults.

  5. Life

    Animal source of Ebola outbreak eludes scientists

    Researchers are trying to determine whether bats or bush meat transmitted the Ebola virus to people in West Africa.

  6. Life

    Airborne transmission of Ebola unlikely, monkey study shows

    No evidence found of macaque monkeys passing deadly virus to each other.

  7. Genetics

    Debate rages over mouse studies’ relevance to humans

    Last year, researchers said rodents are not good mimics of human inflammation; a new study says the reverse.

  8. Health & Medicine

    Mummies reveal hardened arteries

    Mummy studies suggest heart disease is an ancient malady, not just the product of modern diets and sedentary lifestyles.

  9. Life

    For yeast life span, calorie restriction may be a wash

    A new technique for growing and tracking yeast cells finds caloric restriction doesn’t lengthen life span, though some researchers question the study method.

  10. Genetics

    Gene activity change can produce cancer

    Scientists have long thought that epigenetic changes, which alter gene activity, can cause cancer. Now they have demonstrated it in a mouse experiment.

  11. Life

    Pregnancy disorder shares aspects with Alzheimer’s

    Misfolded proteins, the hallmark of Alzheimer’s and mad cow diseases, are found in urine of women with preeclampsia.

  12. Life

    Domesticated animals’ juvenile appearance tied to embryonic cells

    Mild defects in embryonic cells could explain physical similarities along with tameness across domesticated species.