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

    Sickle-cell may blunt, not stop, malaria

    Once thought to keep parasite out of cells, the trait appears to diminish the severity of infection.

  2. Life

    Half-asleep rats look wide awake

    In a discovery with ominous implications for sleep deprivation, researchers find that some brain regions can doze off while an animal remains active.

  3. Life

    Gut bacteria come in three flavors

    Everybody has one of a trio of types — and which one seems to be less important than how the bugs behave.

  4. Life

    New light on moths gone soot-colored

    Researchers trace the mutation that led to the dramatic darkening of an insect's wings during England's industrial revolution to a region rich in genes that control color patterns.

  5. Health & Medicine

    Gut microbes may foster heart disease

    In breaking down a common dietary fat, helpful bacteria initiate production of an artery-hardening compound, mouse experiments suggest.

  6. Life

    Sugar fuels growth of insulin-making cells

    Mouse study suggests a new strategy for treating diabetes.

  7. Health & Medicine

    New brain cell growth restores function

    Regeneration in the hippocampus helps repair learning and memory after injury, mouse experiments suggest.

  8. Life

    Who felt it not, smelt it not

    A genetic defect in a crucial protein stops both pain and smells from reaching the brain.

  9. Life

    In evolution, last really can be first

    By tracking bacteria for thousands of generations, researchers show how small DNA changes can eventually put underdogs on top.

  10. Life

    Antibiotics may make fighting flu harder

    The drugs kill helpful bacteria that keep the immune system primed against viral infections.

  11. Life

    Dining In

    A process called autophagy, is a means of self-preservation, cleansing and stress management for a cell.With their sights on fighting disease, scientists are now uncovering the mechanics that keep autophagy in balance.

  12. Humans

    Missing bits of DNA may define humans

    Genetic information lost along the way may have led to bigger brains and spineless penises, among other traits.