Games, Proteins, and Holidays : My December
Read to see some learnings from the past month, some stuff I've done, and to gain some value recommendation-wise.
Hey!
I was going to tell a funny joke about sodium, but Na.
Welcome back to my newsletter. Hope you had a festive December.
For those who don't know, I'm Nina Khera. You may have met me during a meeting, or at the latest networking event in Boston. I'm a 14-year-old human longevity researcher who's working on projects from topics spanning cellular senescence (zombie cells) to epidermolysis bullosa (skin disease)!
This month I’ve been focusing on having fun during the holidays, Biotein, final schoolwork, my collaboration with the Gladyshev lab, and youth STEM matters.
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Biotein
Through all of the madness and holiday cheer, we accomplished a lot this month! First, we did a lot of validation on the proteins for our biological age test. We’ve been doing wet-lab work to make sure that the proteins we aim to use work and are great candidates.
Because we’re progressing fast, we’ve been looking into branding and marketing - we did a survey last month to ~200 people, and have gotten some really good insights we’re using for our promotion and education about the topic! Also, we’ve been looking into FDA regulations for the test, and have been getting a lot of insights on that front.
On another note, we’ve been working on drugs to treat and cure dementia with a drug discovery company. We’re really excited about this - it isn’t our focus at the moment but this is our goal long-term.
Last of all, team-wise, we’ve been working a lot to build a great culture and did a recap of the year ice cream fun night (I know, long name) this month! That was incredibly fun, and we really enjoyed being reminded of all our progress.
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Mindsets and Philosophy
I love this section so much: It’s basically a free pass for me to nerd out about cool ways of thinking. Note: these are all theories, and no matter how definite they may be phrased, they aren’t close to definite. If you have thoughts/want to debate me on this, reply-email! I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Perfectionism isn’t a strength. I know it sounds like one, especially since we all strive to be ‘perfect.’ The problem is that it often gets mistaken for having high standards, but there is a key difference. People with high standards know when to stop perfecting and toiling. People who are perfectionists don’t stop until they have to. Perfectionism sort of eats at you, and it causes you to overthink so many things.
Cancel culture sort of really sucks. This is controversial but also uncontroversial depending on who you ask. I understand accountability, but Twitter mobs aren’t accountability. They pretty much hurt the life greatly of whoever says something that they later learn isn’t okay. Why have we created this culture on the Internet where this is okay? We wouldn’t do this to people in person.
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Getting Better at Coding
I’ve been continuing my Java journey, and using a Graphical User Interface (or as my dad fondly calls it, a goo-ey) to make my Battleship game look better! I have a pink button to start the game, and popups as messages about scores.
I’ve also made a rock-paper scissors game using a goo-ey (GUI) to display score upon command and start a new game against the computer for every time the center button is pressed.
On another note with coding, a friend and I have been tossing around the idea of creating a platform where you can code by drawing commands. It could be really fun for kids, and better for non-native English speakers. This is very nascent and not-big though. If this interests you though, let me know. We’d love to bounce this off of you.
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Knowledge Bytes
Here are some recommendations from the month!
- A great article: The Bus Ticket Theory of Genius by Paul Graham. It goes over what ‘genius’ and intelligence really is and reduces it down to a key trait. If you agree/disagree with his theory, let me know as I really want to discuss this with people.
- Interesting blog: Ask a manager by Allison Green. This goes over any awkward work situation, and is honestly a great sitting-in-bed read (at least for me). The situations that people get into here are either incredibly relatable/useful or very wild… There is no in-between.
- A great ice cream flavor: Vanilla ice cream with chocolate chips from Haagen Dazs. Not an ad, I promise. I already really like vanilla, so having it with chocolate is delicious. Yum.
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Shoutouts
Here are some fun shoutouts:
- Dr. Boyden for a really insightful conversation around accelerating discoveries and doing important work.
- Ana Sofia for a great discussion around longevity and inviting me to a fascinating brainpod!
- Dr. Joseph Geraci for all your help with Biotein and for an amazing collaboration with Netramark moving forward!
- Brandon Walker for a great chat and for being so kind when we met! It was so great to talk to and learn from you.
- Dr. Deeke and Mr. Li at Cyclica for being so kind during our call and for going on this great journey with us at Biotein!
- Linta Mustafa for excitement and a great time with Biotein moving forward.
Thank you to everyone reading this. Even if I didn't mention you this month. you probably helped me a lot. Thank you!
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Next Month
In January, I’ll be working on Biotein’s bio-age test, writing articles for Youth STEM Matters and Lifespan.io, finishing up my paper with the Gladyshev lab, continuing with my schoolwork, having my birthday, and a lot more! Thanks for following my month.
Reach out to me if you want to talk about human longevity (or just life sciences in general) or anything else honestly!
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nina-khera-115b5a175/
Personal Website: https://ninakhera.com/
Email: kheranina@gmail.com (or just reply to this email)