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

    First chromosome made synthetically from yeast

    Work with yeast marks the first time scientists have synthesized a chromosome from organisms with complex cells and represents a major step toward lab-created eukaryotic life.

  2. Life

    With Taxol, chromosomes divide and get conquered

    New mechanism discovered for how the cancer drug Taxol works.

  3. Genetics

    Mice lose a gene to drop some weight

    Mice lacking gene have less fat, more muscle and lived longer than normal.

  4. Genetics

    Early Polynesians didn’t go to Americas, chicken DNA hints

    Contamination of ancient chicken DNA may explain previous report linking Polynesians to South America.

  5. Genetics

    Giant moa thrived before people reached New Zealand

    Humans probably caused the extinction of giant wingless birds called moa in New Zealand, DNA evidence suggests.

  6. Health & Medicine

    Second wave of bird flu ups pandemic worries

    The H7N9 avian influenza virus, which first appeared in 2013, is sweeping China with a second, larger wave of illness.

  7. Life

    Acid-bath method for making stem cells under fire

    No one has been able to reproduce a new technique for creating stem cells called STAP cells, leading some researchers to call for the retraction of the original research papers.

  8. Health & Medicine

    Meaty diets may raise risk of dying young

    Reducing protein consumption can lengthen life and improve health, studies in mice and people suggest.

  9. Health & Medicine

    Experimental drug no Methuselah formula

    Compound lets mice live healthier lives but doesn't extend life span.

  10. Health & Medicine

    Project to collect 100,000 people’s medical data

    Tracking microbiomes, blood tests and more over decades could provide individual health recommendations.

  11. Ecosystems

    Arctic melting may help parasites infect new hosts

    Grey seals and beluga whales encounter killer microbes as ranges change.

  12. Humans

    Clovis baby’s genome unveils Native American ancestry

    DNA from skeleton shows all tribes come from a single population.