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. Health & Medicine

    The CDC recommends mRNA COVID-19 vaccines over J&J’s, citing fewer risks

    Pfizer’s and Moderna's vaccines are more effective and cause fewer serious side effects than Johnson & Johnson’s jab, new data show.

  2. Health & Medicine

    Why it matters that health agencies finally said the coronavirus is airborne

    Recognizing that the coronavirus spreads through the air reinforced the importance of wearing masks and altered public health recommendations.

  3. Health & Medicine

    Why the coronavirus’s delta variant dominated 2021

    Mapping delta’s unique group of mutations and how they enhance the virus’s life cycle show why the variant spread so easily and caused so much havoc.

  4. Health & Medicine

    Merck’s COVID-19 pill may soon be here. How well will it work?

    Once hailed as a potential game changer, more complete data now reveal drawbacks of Merck’s antiviral COVID-19 pill, molnupiravir.

  5. Health & Medicine

    No, COVID-19 vaccines won’t make you infertile

    Contrary to misinformation spread by Aaron Rodgers and Nicki Minaj, neither the Pfizer, Moderna nor J&J vaccines cause infertility, data show.

  6. Health & Medicine

    How to choose a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot

    To help you choose between the Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 boosters, one reporter looked to the evidence and consulted experts.

  7. Health & Medicine

    Here’s what we know about booster shots for Moderna’s and J&J’s COVID-19 vaccines

    Immunity against the coronavirus is waning, but additional doses of the same or different COVID-19 vaccines could help protect vulnerable people.

  8. Health & Medicine

    Discovering how we sense temperature and touch wins the 2021 medicine Nobel Prize

    Finding sensors on nerve cells that detect temperature and pressure nets California scientists David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian a Nobel Prize.

  9. Health & Medicine

    A new antiviral pill cuts COVID-19 hospitalization and death rates

    Merck says its drug, molnupiravir, stops viral replication and can be taken right after a COVID-19 diagnosis.

  10. Health & Medicine

    Pfizer says its COVID-19 vaccine is safe and works well for kids ages 5–11

    A lower dose of the vaccine produced as many antibodies in elementary school–age kids as a full-dose shot did in teens and young adults.

  11. Health & Medicine

    New studies hint that the coronavirus may be evolving to become more airborne

    More coronavirus RNA is in fine aerosols than in larger droplets, but masks can reduce the amount of virus in the air.

  12. Health & Medicine

    Schools are reopening. COVID-19 is still here. What does that mean for kids?

    Children do get COVID-19, and some become very sick and even die. But the disease’s long-term effects on kids remain uncertain.