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 switches tied to non-Hodgkin lymphoma

    Genetic defects lead to altered activity in other genes.

  2. Health & Medicine

    Tossing, turning, forgetting

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

  3. Life

    Shuffling the genetic deck

    Scientists map places where chromosomes mix and match genes.

  4. Life

    Environment blamed for autism

    A new study of twins downplays the role of genes in determining who will get autism.

  5. Life

    Prion protein is not all bad

    The molecule’s real job may be to maintain myelin around nerves.

  6. Life

    Alzheimer’s plaques due to purging flaw

    A gene controls the clearance of a protein that accumulates in the brains of people with the condition.

  7. Life

    Tasmanian devil genomes offer some hope, few answers

    While clues to combating the infectious cancer that's threatening the species remain elusive, the completion of two genetic blueprints reveals a low but stable genetic diversity.

  8. Life

    New gene therapy fixes mistakes

    For the first time scientists have repaired a damaged gene in a living mouse.

  9. Life

    Blue light used to treat diabetes

    Illumination triggers control of blood sugar in mice implanted with engineered human cells.

  10. Life

    From Z’s to A’s

    Two new studies show sleep is crucial to learning.

  11. Life

    Loophole found in genetic traffic laws

    In a violation of textbook biology, a modified RNA component can cause the cell's protein-making machinery to run genetic stop signs.

  12. Humans

    Human mutation rate slower than thought

    First direct measurements show that the number of genetic typos inherited from each parent can be highly skewed toward either mom or dad.