December Newsletter

CRISPR, skiing, snow and Christmas.

____________________________________________________________________________
✋Hi everyone! Nice to meet you/see you again! My name is Rachel. I am a 15 y/o interested in quantum computing, renewable energy, future of food and all new tech. I love running and being outside, and I never say no to a challenge. My biggest goal in life is to help solve poverty.
____________________________________________________________________________

Articles I wrote

Drum-roll-please!🥁

The article that I was mentioning last month is now published. Using CRISPR-Cas9 to Genetically Modify the Cassava Plant to be Resistant to Cassava Mosaic Disease:

A step-by-step guide on how to use CRISPR-Cas9 to engineer a strand of cassava resistant to cassava mosaic disease.

The Lie We’re Told About GMOs:

Breaking common myths about genetically modified organisms.

My CRISPR experiment

This month I finished up my CRISPR experiment. I learned so much from this experiment, and failed a lot along the way. You can read the article and watch the video where I explain what the experiment is, and what exactly I did:

How I Genetically Modified E.Coli Bacteria Using CRISPR

How I genetically modified e.coli to survive in LB strep plates, a material that they normally would not be able to survive in. I made a small mutation in the e.coli’s ribosomal subunit protein rpsL, that prevented streptomycin from binding to the ribosome, allowing the bacteria to grow on the strep plates.

TL;DR:

• I ordered a CRISPR kit from the ODIN.

• The goal was to edit a sample of e.coli to survive in conditions it normally can’t (in a bacterial plate called strep.)

• My experiment was a success, and I learned a lot more about CRISPR by doing a hands-on experiment.

TechnoGypsie Podcast

This month we published 2 new episodes of the TechnoGypsie Podcast. A huge thank you goes out to Davide Valeriani and Ryan Brown for being on the 4th and 5th episodes:)

I always learn so much from every conversation we have on the podcast, and I always have so much fun. It has been an amazing experience starting a podcast and reaching out to experts along the way.

My three biggest lessons from starting the podcast are;

1. Professionals are very busy. You don’t want to waste their (and your!) time by asking them questions that you could answer yourself by reading their LinkedIn page. Instead ask deep questions that you will actually get something out of. No fluff, cut to the chase.

2. Don’t go along in a conversation nodding your head and acting like you know everything. Ask questions and seek clarification when you don’t understand something.

3. Discover your why before starting something new. Ask yourself why you want to do that thing. When things get tough you will need that why to keep pushing through.

Fast Fridays

Ciara and I decided to start a new series inside the TechnoGypsie Podcast called Fast Fridays this month. Every Friday we publish a short conversation under 15 minutes about different mindsets, lifestyles, philosophies, productivity hacks, happiness hacks and more.

Other cool things that happened this month

• Ciara Sejour (my podcast co-host) and I created a website for the TechnoGypsie Podcast which you can view here.

• I have had fun doing arts and crafts again. This month I have done lots of painting, beading, macrame and all sorts of other crafts.

• The Thunder Bay Symphony Youth Orchestra (which I’m in) had a big Christmas concert.

• During the Christmas break I had so much fun with my family. We did lots of tobogganing, skating, downhill skiing, cross-country skiing, and wrestling in the snow. We also spent lots of time sitting by the fire and opening gifts from each other (some of my favorite gifts: a fitbit, podcast microphone, homemade clock by my sister, homemade door signs from my other sister and some really awesome books I had wanted.)

What’s next?

• Publish my own personal website.

• Write an article about what causes poverty.

• This month I will be reading a lot of research papers. I want to deeply understand what causes poverty in developing countries and how we can stop it. I want to find a way that I can use gene editing to solve poverty, but first I need to learn as much as I can about gene editing and poverty. So the month of January will be full of reading lots of research papers.

And that, my friends, is it! Thank you for reading through this entire newsletter and supporting me on my journey. While waiting for my December newsletter, connect with me on:

LinkedIn, Medium, or email me at: runnerrachel.lee@gmail.com

Happy January and have a lovely rest of your day!