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

    Heart disease has its own clock

    Disrupting circadian rhythms in mouse blood vessels hardens arteries, suggesting that timing malfunctions in organs may cause disease.

  2. Life

    Cats engineered for disease resistance

    Genetically modified felines created in an effort to fight feline immunodeficiency virus.

  3. Tumor Tell-All

    Unraveling complex genetic stories in cancer cells may lead to personalized treatment.

  4. Life

    In the dark, cave fish follows its own rhythm

    Scientists unwind an odd biological clock to better understand how organisms set daily cycles.

  5. Life

    Belly bacteria boss the brain

    One type of gut microbe sends antianxiety messages through the vagus nerve, changing the behavior of mice.

  6. Life

    Genes may explain who gets sick from flu

    People who stay well even after being exposed to the flu have a strong immune reaction to the virus, but in exactly the opposite way as those who get sick.

  7. Life

    Lager’s mystery ingredient found

    After scouring the globe, researchers find the missing ancestor of the yeast used to make cold-brewed beer in an unexpected place.

  8. Life

    Butterfly species a master of disguise

    Supergene allows butterfly to mimic several species.

  9. Life

    Parkinson’s protein comes in fours

    A better understanding of alpha-synuclein's structure could lead to ways of treating or preventing the disease.

  10. Life

    Rare gene variants linked to ADHD

    Missing or added genes cause attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and other disorders, such as autism.

  11. Life

    DNA switches tied to non-Hodgkin lymphoma

    Genetic defects lead to altered activity in other genes.

  12. Health & Medicine

    Tossing, turning, forgetting

    A new study in mice finds that sleep disturbance erodes memory.