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

    Tasmanian devil disease reveals its secrets

    The contagious cancer evades the animal’s immune system by turning off key genes.

  2. Life

    Alga borrows genes to beat the heat, acid and toxic metals

    Such genetic theft from bacteria and archaea is unusual among eukaryotes.

  3. Life

    Mice get brain boost from transplanted human tissue

    An experimental transplant of what have long been considered just support cells shows they may play a role in memory and learning.

  4. Neuroscience

    Tadpoles with eyes in their tails see the light

    Transplanted eyes in the creature’s tail can distinguish between red and blue.

  5. Life

    Scientists race to understand deadly new virus

    Emerging virus causes severe illness, but doesn’t spread as quickly as SARS.

  6. Science & Society

    Researcher rehab

    A project called RePAIR aims to help those who have engaged in misconduct or unprofessional behavior get a second chance.

  7. Life

    Sleep loss affects gene activity

    Losing zzz’s shifts workings of more than 700 genes.

  8. Life

    Insulin levels wax and wane daily

    Modern life may clash with the hormone’s natural cycle, new mouse research suggests.

  9. Humans

    In research, it matters whether you’re a man or a mouse

    A study that compares trauma responses of mice with those in people questions the relevance of mouse research to human disease.

  10. Genetics

    Rare disease sets mom’s research agenda

  11. Life

    Inflammation feeds E. coli

    Inflammation, normally a defense against microbes, may become counterproductive in the gut by feeding disease-causing bacteria.

  12. Animals

    Mole sniffs the world in stereo

    Nostrils of the common mole recognize slight differences in smells to steer it toward its food.