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

    Chromothripsis

    Chromothripsis is the catastrophic shattering of a chromosome.

  2. Life

    Ancient horse’s DNA fills in picture of equine evolution

    An entire genome compiled from a 700,000-year-old bone yields new information about equine history.

  3. Life

    Brain cell insulators are short-timers

    Limited myelin production time may make it harder to repair nerve casings damaged by multiple sclerosis.

  4. Life

    On the trail of a new virus

    Map of MERS infection finds microbe spread through hospital dialysis units.

  5. Anthropology

    Snails trace Stone Age trek from Iberia to Ireland

    A genetic quirk linking snails in two distant areas suggests people brought escargot on their migration to the Emerald Isle.

  6. Science & Society

    The gene patenting decision from a plaintiff’s point of view

    Plaintiffs in Myriad case win an overwhelming victory, but some details remain a bit fuzzy.

  7. Life

    Leprosy bacterium changed little in last millennium

    Genome alterations probably not responsible for decline in disease prevalence.

  8. Animals

    Now-extinct wolf may be ancestor of modern-day dogs

    No strong signs of canine ancestry among living grey wolves.

  9. Health & Medicine

    Flu spreads via airborne droplets

    Hand washing goes only so far in retarding flu transmission.

  10. Life

    Genes weakly linked to education level

    A search of more than 2 million DNA locations in more than 125,000 people finds a weak, and perhaps dubious, association with schooling.

  11. Life

    Life Support

    Studies reveal the placenta’s crucial role in healthy pregnancies.

  12. Life

    Tests show that deadly flu could spread among people

    Experiment shows that new influenza virus transmits through air between ferrets, a common experimental stand-in for humans.