Programming, Creating, and Studying: My May
Read to see some learnings from the past month, some stuff I've done, and to gain some value recommendation-wise.
Hey!
People were telling me I make bad jokes, but really, I do it because I’ve run out and all the good ones Argon! ;)
Welcome back to my newsletter. Hope you had a not-too-hot May :).
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 15-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 working (as always) on Biotein, coding, summer planning, and studying for finals!
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Biotein
Okay, last month, I said a lot happened that month, but now, I’m wondering what adjective to use, because more happened this month. We created design specs around our device for manufacturers, refined our testing proposal, worked on a standalone deck, are about to raise a $150K round, made a detailed timeline, and conducted user interviews! Unfortunately, this month, we lost Dr. Elena Seranova and Linta (2 cofounders) due to time demands.
In terms of materials, we created design specs for manufacturers of our device, a standalone deck and refined our testing proposal for our assay a lot - we aim to get human participants to test the saliva of (very excited for this! let me know if you’re interested :)). We looked at budget and financials and decided to raise a $150K round to get a tested and working MVP that we can begin selling to those we know are interested (and from there, expand sales!).
We also conducted around 20 user interviews to do some market research. We wanted to figure out the exact type of customer that really needs our product, and make sure we can tailor it to them. We got some great insights, so thank you to all those who signed up :)! If you want to interview/play a role, email me back here or email infobiotein@gmail.com and we can get you set up with a team member.
Next month, we will be finishing our standalone deck (if you’re able to give feedback, send me a message/email), creating a technical summary deck for our product, and beginning to raise $150K! If you know any angel investors who could help out, let us know :).
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Mindsets and Philosophy
Here are some thoughts I’ve been having!
I was thinking a lot about how to best communicate with others when they have problems: there’s this skit called the Nail, which I think is really funny. The gist of it is that the first participant is venting about the symptoms of having a nail in their head, and the second one tells them repeatedly to remove the nail - but it isn’t about the nail in their head, it’s about the meaning of the nail. It’s kind of hard to describe, but it’s 2 minutes and I recommend you check it out. Ok, so back to discussion. When people have problems, it’s difficult to know whether you should recommend a fix or not. Sometimes people just want people to listen to them, and all else feels secondary. The actual problem tends not to be relevant so much as the meaning of the problem. I’ve found that when people are venting, asking what they are looking for is helpful (although it’s not always accurate).
There are so many issues in the world, and I’ve been thinking a lot about how to make a good balance between wanting to solve them and feeling brought down by a lot of them, and enjoying life. There are real people experiencing the impacts of those issues right now, which is why I’m so lucky to even write this, but I have no idea how to strike a good balance. My goal is to solve a bunch of issues, but I won’t do any if I focus on all of them at once - but I’m still trying to figure out how one does not feel guilty for not solving everything and not focusing on everything?
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Coding, coding, and oh? coding
Okay, I embarked on a major project this month. I built SCRABBLE!!! With a computer player. It was very difficult, but so fun! If you want to test it out, let me know. I’ll send it over! I’m so excited though, because this is a more long-term project than I normally take on. I’m not done with new features though, but you’ll get a good version.
I also did the card game Scat, and fooled around a lot coding-wise. Very fun month ;)!
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Knowledge Bytes
Here are some recommendations from the month!
- Cool productivity tool: Not the biggest fan of most productivity tools, but I love Notion. I know that’s pretty common, but their to-do lists are so helpful! Here’s my template. Maybe I’ll do a Notion Youtube video talking about my templates this summer!
- Best type of candy: m&ms are the best and nobody can tell me otherwise! So so yummy,
- Interesting (or fun) fact: guess which letter is in NO U.S. state?………………….. Q. Wow, right?
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Shoutouts
Here are some fun shoutouts:
Ben Nashman - thank you for your advice on Biotein and your help with making a lot of decisions around it - it was so helpful to chat with you and get your insights on different things.
Aubrey de grey - thank you for all your advice around testing, interviews, and validation for Biotein, it’s great to have you helping us as always!
Dr. Lou Hawthorne - great to hear about NaNotics from you - your technology is so fascinating! Good luck with everything there.
Grandma - normally I don’t thank family members here, but thanks for pulling out all the stops and getting so many people to interview with us at Biotein (no idea you KNEW that many people haha).
Dr. Miller - thank you for your great advice around the testing of our test and our research paper as always!
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 June, I’ll be working on Biotein and raising the round, be ending my grade 10 year (whaaaat??), be in a documentary, be beginning some fun things I’ll give more details on soon, and overall be enjoying my summer! Expect some cool updates in the coming months.
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)