Building Assays and Writing a Ton: My October
Read to see some learnings from the past month, some stuff I've done, and to gain some value recommendation-wise.
Hey!
What's a physicist’s favorite food? Fission chips.
Welcome back to my newsletter. I hope you had a sane October.
For those who don't know (although I hope you do, as you subscribed :)), 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 Biotein, my schoolwork, and training my writing skill! I’ve also been reading a LOT.
You may be a tad confused, as you’re receiving this email in a VERY different format. I’m revamping my newsletter a bit (as well as my life), and this will be more focused on a few major things I’ve been doing.
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Biotein
First and foremost, this month was full of Biotein work and advancement. We've been working on developing our assay for senescent cells, creating timelines, and beginning computational analysis. It's been a wild ride up to this point, but it's been so fun and we are expecting to finish our assay (after testing) early March 2021. Tangible and exciting things are happening.
Additionally, we've been doing a lot of writing-related work for an upcoming paper we aim to publish on senescent mitochondrial features (as determined by artificial intelligence). If you want to read a draft/see it, it's ready and we're submitting right now, so let us know.!
One more thing: we've been creating and refining an execution plan to get our biggest goals accomplished, including preventing brain aging and diseases that arise from it (such as Parkinson's and dementia). If you want to see it, let us know. We want to do big things.
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Mindsets and Philosophy
Also, I've been thinking a lot about mindsets and philosophy lately. Here are some main thoughts I've had (feel free to reply to this email and debate me on anything):
- Models for different diseases don't make sense fundamentally. They seem to be designed to fail, as we're testing these models based on somewhat shallow hypotheses about different diseases. Some models work and that is amazing, but models for dementia for example tend to be based on the beta amyloid hypothesis, which doesn't end up working for general dementias, as it might be more than that. Of course, they are the best option right now.
- I've been thinking a lot about how far we've come as a civilization. We've gone from these simple unicellular organisms to these complex beings who've built systems. That has a lot of advantages for us as a human race. However, inherently, these systems do have flaws, including the overuse of the one size fits all model, and the biases that came with making our own rules.
- I've also been thinking about different mental models to train, and one main one is the abundance mindset. That basically means suppressing our natural tendency to be competitive (back when resources were really shallow, this was needed) and adopting the mindset that there's enough success and happiness for everyone. I feel like this is something I'm making a continuous effort on, and it's definitely getting better.
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Training Myself to Be a Better Writer
I've been trying to become a better writer (and speaker) recently, as it's one of the most important skills to communicate information. Recently, i've been writing and reading articles in my free time.
I have a bunch of topics I want to write about, including time organization, the flaws of metaphors, the development of civilization, and a lot more.
Also, I've been writing papers, including the one for Biotein, one on senescence and cardiovascular disease, and one on COVID-19 and aging. Writing papers/scientific writing is another skill I want to develop.
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Knowledge Bytes
Here are some recommendations from the month!
- Best ice cream: Haagen Dazs Vanilla Bean (100%, it's amazing)
- Coolest article: The Sephist's article on Life as Becoming (recommended for its thought-provoking insights on changing in life). If you like it, read his other posts, they're awesome.
- A great book: I'd recommend reading Everyday Use by Alice Walker (short story, not book). It focuses on the glamorizing of heritage and on being the underdog. It's really great.
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Shoutouts
Here are some fun shoutouts:
- Dr. Aubrey de grey for your feedback on our paper and for your continuous help with Biotein's ideation and direction.
- Dr. Ana Maria Cuervo for your help with our brain aging proposal and your continuous feedback and kindness.
- Linta Mustafa for your energizing calls and for being a great co-founder.
- Dr. Kipnis for an interesting discussion on the flaws of models and general ethics for different research.
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 October, I’ll be continuing school, working more on Biotein's assay and paper, and reading + writing more! I'm excited.
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)