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

    Aphids support symbionts with borrowed DNA

    Aphids borrowed at least two genes from bacterial buddies, and those genes now support another bacterium that lives in the insects.

  2. Life

    Gene links autism, bellyaches

    Researchers have uncovered a genetic link between autism and gastrointestinal disorders in some families.

  3. Life

    Tastes like metal

    Scientists have discovered that proteins that help sense sweet and spice also help taste metals.

  4. Life

    Jumping genes provide unexpected diversity

    Mobile DNA elements have stuffed and shrunk the human genome, a comparison of two genomes reveal

  5. Planetary Science

    Earth may be home to unearthly life

    No need to look on other planets for new forms of life — weird life could exist right here on Earth.

  6. Humans

    Kissing chemistry

    Unlocking the secrets of the lip-lock.

  7. Humans

    First rough draft of Neandertal genome released

    A rough draft of the Neandertal genome is complete, scientists announced on Darwin’s 200th birthday.

  8. Life

    Duplication in genomes may separate humans from apes

    A sudden peak in duplication of chunks of DNA in the common ancestor of humans, chimps and gorillas led to genetic flexibility, which created differences among the species.

  9. Life

    Molecular link between vitamin D deficiency and MS

    Scientists have discovered a molecular link that may help explain why Vitamin D deficiency is associated with multiple sclerosis.

  10. Health & Medicine

    Epigenetics reveals unexpected, and some identical, results

    One study finds tissue-specific methylation signatures in the genome; another a similarity between identical twins in DNA’s chemical tagging.

  11. Life

    Genetic sameness could be factor in Tasmanian tiger extinction

    The first complete mitochondrial genome of the Tasmanian tiger is revealed. Analysis shows little genetic diversity.

  12. Health & Medicine

    Sirtuin shown to control gene activity

    A previously overlooked protein called SIRT6 provides some molecular clues to aging.