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

    DNA tags may dictate bee behavior

    Chemical alterations affect genetic activity but not the genes themselves.

  2. Life

    Stem cells may help in treating deafness

    A new method triggers the development of sound-sensitive neurons in the inner ear.

  3. Life

    New swine flu virus could infect people

    Strains found in Korean pigs contain gene mutations that make them potentially transmissible to humans.

  4. Life

    Team releases sequel to the human genome

    ENCODE reveals the machinery that switches genes on and off.

  5. Life

    Antibiotics linked to fat buildup

    Research in mice implicates changes in gut microbe mix; study in infants finds excess weight gain after use of the drugs.

  6. Life

    Unusual virus may tie snakes in knots

    Captive snakes with a fatal disease harbor viruses never before seen in reptiles.

  7. Life

    Smell deals with deprivation differently

    One odor-related brain region called the orbitofrontal cortex keeps the sense primed for resumed input during a cold.

  8. Uncommon Carriers

    People have a surprising number of rare genetic variants.

  9. Humans

    North African Diaspora written in genes

    DNA analysis of people from 15 groups identifies distinct groups and migrations.

  10. Life

    Select cells appear to spawn tumors

    Separate studies support the theory that stem cells cause cancers to emerge and recur.

  11. Humans

    DNA hints at African cousin to humans

    Complete genetic profiles of people from three hunter-gatherer groups suggest Homo sapiens interbred with a now-extinct species on the continent relatively recently.

  12. Life

    Genome of a fruit besieged

    The banana genome has been unpeeled. The genetic makeup of Musa acuminata, a fertile banana species that gave rise to the seedless Cavendish and other clonal varieties people eat today, sheds light on the plant’s evolutionary history and ripening process. This information may also help researchers boost the crop’s resistance to fungal and viral pathogens […]