Jetsetting, Jotting, and Journalling: June
Subtitles are lame (BUT INFORMATIVE!). Just kidding! Hope you have fun reading this :).
Hey!
I’ve always worried about why water never laughed at my jokes, but now I get it! Water’s not such a fan of dry humour :).
Welcome back to my newsletter. Hope you had a snazzy 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 16-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 worked on Biotein, making memories at camp in Philly (lived in dorms for 2 weeks!), Youth STEM Matters, brain aging, and college stuff!
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Biotein
We have been working on ELISA troubleshooting for our glitch-y experiments, making edits to our IRB submission based on feedback, planning our validation study (logistics, endpoints, participant stratification), and discussing potential investments this past month. Our main focus/priority right now is troubleshooting the experiments!
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Mindsets and Philosophy
Here are some thoughts I’ve been having!
I think one of the most rewarding things in life is building + putting out stuff. There’s nothing quite like making an awesome thing then seeing people using or liking said thing. It’s even more rewarding when others build on it or integrate it into their lives somehow. Of course, I do think that there is value in keeping things for yourself too. Maybe it doesn’t feel as rewarding in the moment, but I feel like that builds a certain level of self-restraint and also appreciation for things not because of the value others see in them but because of the value you see in them.
I feel like there is a certain safety that makes planning and sticking to a routine really attractive but the real adventures happen when you exit the routine. Maybe the adventures are scary and maybe your routine seems more attractive in the moment, but life is a little about rolling the dice. Of course I mean scary in a non-genuinely unsafe way haha. Just more mentally scary.
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Knowledge Bytes
Here are some recommendations from the month!
- Great snack: mini m&ms. Hands down so good. I 1000000% recommend them. I probably have already recommended them.
- Interesting content company: every.to. They have a TON of interesting newsletters and content! I personally recomment Cybernaut and Napkin Math.
- Fascinating Youtuber: Josh Pieters. I like Youtubers that actually do stuff and try things out. This guy’s done some funny (and some more mean-spirited, which isn’t ideal, but I don’t focus on those ones) things. A lot of his videos are an interesting commentary on modern society. (I also like watching Ryan Trahan & Drew Gooden for the same reason)
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Shoutouts
Here are some fun shoutouts:
Thank you to Dr. Wolfe and Dr. Capucilli at Ichor for helping us with troubleshooting! Biotein has learned a lot from you so far and we are excited to be working with you on ELISA troubleshooting.
Thank you Jasmeen for a great call! I really enjoyed meeting and getting to know you and am excited to continue chatting.
Thank you 1517 for supporting Biotein so much! We are happy to be working with such an amazing venture fund.
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 July, I’ll be working more on Biotein, going to an 11-day sleepaway program in Berkeley (for the Atlas fellowship!), working on an internship, and more!
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)