Graduating, Gearing up, and Gleaning: My June
Subtitles are lame (but informative!). Just kidding! Hope you have fun reading this :)
Hey!
I was wondering why the pickle had so many paparazzi, but I’ve come to the realization that of course it does! It’s a big dill.
Welcome back to my newsletter. Hope you had a sunny (but not overly so!) June.
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 17-year-old human longevity researcher who's working on projects in the field of Alzheimer’s, longevity, and brain aging!
This month I’ve continued to do work on Biotein, a summer program (it’s actually materializing!), a data science internship with Alio, a project focused on Alzheimer’s, and learning the fundamentals of chemistry + physics.
——
Biotein
We’re doing a small follow-up study to our initial study to get some more datapoints for analysis, which is now in the process. We’re also planning development of our test and our larger study.
——
Mindsets and Philosophy
Here are some thoughts I’ve been having!
Experiences shine a little less as you get older. As a young person, everything is so exciting and every new experience comes with so so much adrenaline, but as you experience these things more and more they turn into way less of a big deal. And soon the specialness comes from the value the experiences bring you and the forms of fulfillment you get from the experiences you choose to partake in. In all honesty maybe that’s a little more valuable and makes for a better life — sure, there’s less excitement, but life is more special for reasons you choose.
Who are we really? I don’t know, I think I’ve fallen down the universal path of trying to figure out my personal identity and trying to do so in a way that enables me to change but also makes me a solid cohesive human. I don’t have many answers that I feel confident about but I do have questions. First off, is it fair to define people as XYZ given the fact that we all constantly change and grow and we don’t want to restrict our freedom to do so? Also, what does this mean for code-switching? Is it ethical to do so, and if so, to what degree (thank you to all the Atlas people who discussed these questions with me)?
——
Knowledge Bytes
Here are some recommendations from the month!
- Interesting blog post about responsiveness (thanks Devansh for this one!):
Pretty good poetry substack (when he does post): https://substack.com/@avan
Another good substack (super reflective, thanks for the recc Claire):
——
Shoutouts
Here are some fun shoutouts:
Thank you Dr. Wolfe, Dan, Dr. Ewald, Dr. Geraci, 1517, and Dr. Moody for all of your help with planning our next study and our random statistical + logistics questions.
Thank you again to Ravi for your help with the Alzheimer’s project — and for the free boba :).
Thank you to Aamani for helping me get settled at Alio and for ensuring a great first few weeks.
Thank you to everyone reading this. Even if I didn't mention you this month. you probably helped me a lot. Thank you!
——
Next Month
In July, I’ll be working on Biotein, data science work with Alio, doing the summer program (finally!), coding, learning more chemistry, and continuing my work on Alzheimer’s!
Reach out to me if you want to talk about human longevity, brain aging, (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)