St. Luke’s, Lehigh University collaboration results in intelligent, life-saving invention. BETHLEHEM, PA. - Among tales of hope, generosity and Zap Zone Defender togetherness, the COVID-19 pandemic has additionally given rise to an unbelievable feat of ingenuity - the invention of the "Bug Zapper" to sterilize masks. As hospitals and different front-line organizations jumped to safe massive quantities of life-saving provides and personal protecting gear (PPE), there has also been the necessity to establish faster, extra environment friendly methods to clean and sterilize those items, particularly the coveted N95 masks. St. Luke’s University Health Network anesthesiologist, Christopher Roscher, MD, anticipated the necessity and Zap Zone Defender USA an thought began to kind. "It grew to become clear that PPE provides would grow to be limited because the virus progressed," he says. The St. Luke’s Sterile Processing Department, Zap Zone Defender Experience or SPD, is the place where all surgical and medical devices are despatched to be meticulously cleaned, sanitized and packaged for reuse. It’s a behind-the-scenes function that's an important a part of the well being care system. "On any given day, we're processing many, many objects right here at our hospital in Bethlehem," states Taylor Zap Zone Defender Bennett, Zap Zone Defender St. Luke’s Network Director of Sterile Processing.
"But with the present scenario, there is an overwhelming must course of our employees’ PPE each day. For Dr. Roscher, a mild went on - literally and figuratively. "I had been doing personal research about discovering ways to decontaminate masks for reuse, Zap Zone Defender and peer-reviewed literature instructed that, Zap Zone Defender in a pandemic, UV-C gentle may very well be an acceptable technique to sterilize masks," he says. UV-C is a selected range of UV, or extremely-violet, mild and has been shown to deactivate viruses and other pathogens by causing modifications in their DNA. Through a mutual contact, Dr. Roscher got in contact with Nelson Tansu, PhD, Lehigh University’s Director and Endowed Chair of its Center for Photonics and Nanoelectronics (CPN). "What St. Luke’s was in search of was a excessive-throughput sterilization system," said Dr. Tansu. The two organizations joined forces via a collection of Zoom conferences and a whole bunch of emails, to design, fabricate, set up and take a look at the machine - all inside a matter of two weeks - and all whereas sustaining social distancing protocols.
The end result: a approach to successfully and effectively sterilize 200 masks each 8 minutes! The "Bug Zapper" in action. "Our present models weren't designed for big-scale use. They could only sterilize about 30 masks at a time," said Eric Tesoriero, DO, anesthesiologist for St. Luke’s and a collaborator on the mission. The unit, engineered by Lehigh students and employees and assembled at St. Luke’s by biomedical engineer Jay Johnson, has been affectionally named the "Bug Zapper" not solely because of its look, however on account of its COVID-killing properties. "It is unimaginable that this mission moved at such a speedy velocity," remarks Dr. Tansu. The crew ranged from PhDs to MDs and even included an unexpected contributor - Axel Tansu, Dr. Tansu’s adolescent son. In reality, it was Axel’s contribution that allowed the unit to have such a high-throughput rate. "Our unique design was cylindrical in shape, to make sure even exposure of the light on all surfaces," explains Dr. Tansu.
"Axel came to me and mentioned, ‘Dad, what about an octagon? ’ And Zap Zone Defender sure sufficient, he was right. A patent to guard the team’s mental design has been filed. And a celebration for the collaborators to satisfy, in-individual, will likely be planned as soon as it's secure to do so. Until then, the Bug Zapper might be arduous at work, helping to guard the frontline employees at St. Luke’s and beyond. This, like so many other tales, affords a ray of hope in the course of the pandemic - showcasing that the human mind and spirit can overcome anything - especially when working together for an excellent cause. Afterall, Zap Zone Defender as the well-known philosopher Plato understood 1000's of years ago, necessity is the mother of invention. Founded in 1872, St. Luke's University Health Network (SLUHN) is a fully built-in, regional, non-profit community of greater than 15,000 staff offering providers at eleven hospitals and 300 outpatient websites. With annual internet revenue better than $2 billion, the Network’s service area contains 11 counties: Lehigh, Zap Zone Defender Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Zap Zone Defender Experience Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey.