Welcome! 👋
Hey, I’m Yameen - a 15-year-old Activator at The Knowledge Society (TKS), Editor at students x students, TEDx Speaker, podcast host, STEAM Student, and Army Cadet.
I’m extremely passionate about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Gene-Editing (GE). Currently working to leverage GE technologies to cure genetic blindness (LCA10).
My mission in life is to make an impact on the lives of others. There are so many who are underrepresented in our country (and globally), and I believe it’s up to us to take advantage of our opportunities to create a better world for them!
It’s been a wild ride, and I’m so glad to have you joining me! But, you didn’t come here to learn about my life goals; you came to learn about my month.
So, here you go!
December! ❄️
As December comes to an end, there’s a lot to look back on. 2021 was filled with new experiences, failures, lessons, and growth. I’ve always loved to look back on a year and see growth - no matter how big or small, it’s always something that keeps me moving and allows me to do better and better every single day.
In December, that growth was highlighted. This month, I focused on taking a deep dive into GE - worked on CRISPR kits, read research papers, created content, presented ideas, and even came up with a hypothesis on potential GE applications.
I’ll have all that and more in this month’s episode of My Structurally Unstructured Life! Welcome to my December!
Hold on… Where Were You?
Yeah… I kinda ghosted y’all for the past two months. If you don’t know, my most recent newsletter (before this) was the September Episode.
October and November didn’t have an episode. The reason why this happened is because I decided to change this monthly newsletter into a quarterly newsletter. I didn’t feel like I was able to portray much growth with a monthly newsletter, so I thought it was time to make the switch.
Fast forward to mid-December, I realized that the decision I made was… kinda dumb. I created my newsletters in the first place to stay accountable. If I can’t show my monthly failures and successes, what growth is there? And why should I hide that?
Growth emerges from the roots of your failures, there’s no point in hiding them.
That’s why, after a two-month pause, I’m happy to say that I’m back!
Newsletter Update.
Before deciding to come back to the monthly newsletters, I read some of the old ones. When I finished reading them, I was really inspired… because they sucked! Most of the time when I was writing the newsletters, I was simply dumping information. A lot of the time writing newsletters, to me, was an end-of-the-month chore. I didn’t want that to be the case - I wanted it to be more interesting, playful, and fun!
So, with that, I decided to revamp the newsletters - Yameen’s Monthly Newsletter turned into My Structurally Unstructured Life.
All my socials were also updated to match the theme:
With that out of the way, let’s start getting into what I did this past month!
Diving Into GE.
December was a heads-down dive into GE. In October, I was unsure about where I would be going with GE. Fast forward to now, I have a much better idea. This month was spent building new skills, talking to experts in the field, creating content, and more!
Here’s a quick timeline of the growth:
Didn’t know anything about GE.
The first thing I completed during this period was an introductory article on GE and its applications for neurological diseases. I referenced papers from Mayo Clinic, spotlighted companies such as Scribe Therapeutics, IGI, Biogen and a ton of others! This first GE article was a way for me to not only teach others about what I learned but also learn new things along the way.
Started learning new things.
I spent most of my October + November learning more about GE. That’s when I realized that most of my work was theoretical - I haven’t actually been able to apply my knowledge in a hands-on experience. So, I changed that. I bought a CRISPR kit and finished it within a few days.
The kit allowed me to genetically modify E. coli and give it the ability to grow on a Streptomycin Plate - a plate it would usually not be able to grow on.
I even wrote an article and created a video on the experiment + my experiences. Check them out!
Applied the skills.
Finally, in December, with the TKS Mentor Showcase near, I decided to 10x my skills - do something that wasn’t done before. That’s what influenced me to create my hypothesis for a new non-invasive method of delivery.
You can learn more about it from my article and intro video.
Article Features.
One of my articles was featured as an Original on students x students.
Another article, on Canadian Residential Schools, was featured on the Global Diplomat:
Monthly Wisdom.
“If you shape your life according to nature, you will never be poor; if according to people’s opinions, you will never be rich.”
🔑: Living to please others is everyone’s greatest fault. Live the way you want to live, not the way someone else wants you to.
Don’t live according to the opinions of others. Ever since we’re kids, we learn to live our lives according to the approval of others (e.g. parents, friends, etc.). The urge to live this way comes from the desire to be accepted by others. But, the reality is, your life is your life, not theirs. “Nature’s wants are small, while those of opinion are limitless”. Live for yourself, not others.
That’s it…for now!
These past few months were amazing! I dived into GE, revamped the newsletter, and built cool stuff. In the next month, I’m going to work to 10x that experience - I’m going to create more, struggle more, and most importantly, grow more! I’m excited for what’s next!
So, until then…enjoy your New Year!
- Yameen ✌️