St. Luke’s, Lehigh University collaboration leads to clever, life-saving invention. BETHLEHEM, PA. - Among tales of hope, generosity and togetherness, the COVID-19 pandemic has additionally given rise to an unimaginable feat of ingenuity - the invention of the "Bug Zapper" to sterilize masks. As hospitals and other front-line organizations jumped to safe massive quantities of life-saving supplies and private protecting tools (PPE), there has also been the need to establish faster, more environment friendly methods to wash and Zap Zone Defender sterilize these items, notably the coveted N95 masks. St. Luke’s University Health Network anesthesiologist, Christopher Roscher, MD, anticipated the need and an idea started to form. "It became clear that PPE provides would turn out to be limited because the virus progressed," he says. The St. Luke’s Sterile Processing Department, or indoor-outdoor zapper SPD, is the place the place all surgical and medical instruments are despatched to be meticulously cleaned, sanitized and packaged for reuse. It’s a behind-the-scenes function that's an essential a part of the health care system. "On any given day, we are processing many, many items right here at our hospital in Bethlehem," states Taylor Bennett, St. Luke’s Network Director of Sterile Processing.
"But with the present situation, there may be an overwhelming must course of our employees’ PPE each day. For Dr. Roscher, a gentle went on - actually and figuratively. "I had been doing non-public analysis about finding ways to decontaminate masks for reuse, Zap Zone Defender and Zap Zone peer-reviewed literature recommended that, in a pandemic, UV-C gentle might be an appropriate strategy to sterilize masks," he says. UV-C is a specific vary of UV, or ultra-violet, mild and has been proven to deactivate viruses and different pathogens by causing adjustments of their DNA. Through a mutual contact, Dr. Roscher received in touch with Nelson Tansu, PhD, Lehigh University’s Director and Endowed Chair of its Center for Photonics and Nanoelectronics (CPN). "What St. Luke’s was searching for was a excessive-throughput sterilization system," said Dr. Tansu. The two organizations joined forces by means of a collection of Zoom meetings and tons of of emails, to design, fabricate, set up and check the gadget - all inside a matter of two weeks - and all whereas sustaining social distancing protocols.
The end consequence: a method to effectively and effectively sterilize 200 masks every 8 minutes! The "Bug Zapper" in motion. "Our current units weren't designed for large-scale use. They could solely sterilize about 30 masks at a time," said Eric Tesoriero, DO, anesthesiologist for St. Luke’s and a collaborator on the undertaking. The unit, engineered by Lehigh college students and staff and assembled at St. Luke’s by biomedical engineer Jay Johnson, has been affectionally named the "Bug Zapper" not only on account of its look, however as a result of its COVID-killing properties. "It is incredible that this challenge moved at such a speedy velocity," remarks Dr. Tansu. The staff ranged from PhDs to MDs and even included an unexpected contributor - Axel Tansu, Dr. Tansu’s adolescent son. In truth, it was Axel’s contribution that allowed the unit to have such a high-throughput price. "Our unique design was cylindrical in form, to make sure even exposure of the light on all surfaces," explains Dr. Tansu.
"Axel came to me and said, Zap Zone Defender ‘Dad, Zap Zone Defender what about an octagon? ’ And sure enough, he was right. A patent to protect the team’s intellectual design has been filed. And a celebration for the collaborators to meet, in-particular person, will probably be deliberate once it's safe to take action. Until then, the Bug Zapper shall be laborious at work, helping to protect the frontline employees at St. Luke’s and past. This, like so many other tales, offers a ray of hope in the course of the pandemic - showcasing that the human mind and spirit can overcome anything - particularly when working collectively for Zap Zone Defender an awesome trigger. Afterall, Zap Zone as the well-known philosopher Plato understood hundreds of years ago, necessity is the mother of invention. Founded in 1872, St. Luke's University Health Network (SLUHN) is a totally built-in, regional, non-profit network of more than 15,000 employees offering services at 11 hospitals and 300 outpatient websites. With annual net revenue greater than $2 billion, the Network’s service space contains eleven counties: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey.