#statepress

A communications junior is starting a Country Music Association EDU chapter at ASU for students interested in music, entertainment and special events management.

The Clinton family spent the weekend at ASU for the seventh annual Clinton Global Initiative University meeting.

I've had quite a few articles featured on www.statepress.com and in the print editions since my last update. You can always keep up by just hitting the A&E video game section.

I've written about donating to Kickstarter campaigns being a gamble, the Wii U being a big fat flop, PlayStation Plus kicking Xbox Live's ass, and what PlayStation Now means for gamers.

Bio hazard signs riddle the doors of sub zero refrigerators. Tubes, wires and pipes run across each other in a chaotic yet calculated dance. Machines beep at a myriad of pitches, creating a symphony of synthesized frequencies and sometimes jarring tones.

Welcome to one of ASU's most hi-tech research labs on all 4 campuses. Xiaowei Liu, a graduate research assistant at ASU, was able to show me around the Bio Design laboratory, where she is working on a vaccine that helps smokers addicted to nicotine quit for good.

While many areas were off limits for photography, some of the machines that are used for the optimization for this nicotine vaccine were in plain sight.The Bio Design building on the Tempe campus still had many opportunities for storytelling, despite the clearance issues.

Microscopes that hook up to computer monitors for high definition imaging were among the many, as well as a machine that Liu is seen demonstrating that helps sort cells out into categories. These cells are then used for further research, and can be manipulated and isolated to help Liu and her team in their goal for vaccine optimization.

For more facts on the story and what Liu is doing during her time at ASU, read the full story below by Nicholas Palomino Mendoza.

http://www.statepress.com/2013/07/16/researchers-developing-nicotine-vaccine/