St. Luke’s, Lehigh University collaboration leads to intelligent, life-saving invention. BETHLEHEM, PA. - Among tales of hope, generosity and togetherness, the COVID-19 pandemic has also given rise to an unbelievable feat of ingenuity - the invention of the "Bug Zapper" to sterilize masks. As hospitals and other entrance-line organizations jumped to secure giant portions of life-saving supplies and personal protective tools (PPE), there has also been the need to determine quicker, extra environment friendly methods to scrub and sterilize these gadgets, particularly the coveted N95 masks. St. Luke’s University Health Network anesthesiologist, Christopher Roscher, MD, anticipated the necessity and an idea started to type. "It grew to become clear that PPE provides would turn out to be limited because the virus progressed," he says. The St. Luke’s Sterile Processing Department, or SPD, is the place where all surgical and medical instruments are despatched to be meticulously cleaned, sanitized and bug zapper packaged for reuse. It’s a behind-the-scenes perform that is an important a part of the health care system. "On any given day, we're processing many, many objects right here at our hospital in Bethlehem," states Taylor Zap Zone Defender Testimonial Bennett, St. Luke’s Network Director Zap Zone Defender Testimonial of Sterile Processing.
"But with the present situation, there may be an overwhelming have to course of our employees’ PPE on a daily basis. For Dr. Roscher, a light went on - literally and figuratively. "I had been doing private research about finding methods to decontaminate masks for Zap Zone Defender System reuse, Zap Zone Defender Testimonial and peer-reviewed literature prompt that, in a pandemic, UV-C mild may very well be an acceptable technique to sterilize masks," he says. UV-C is a particular vary of UV, or ultra-violet, mild and has been shown to deactivate viruses and other pathogens by inflicting modifications in their DNA. Through a mutual contact, Dr. Roscher obtained 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 on the lookout for was a high-throughput sterilization system," stated Dr. Tansu. The 2 organizations joined forces by way of a sequence of Zoom conferences and tons of of emails, to design, fabricate, install and test the device - all inside a matter of two weeks - and all while sustaining social distancing protocols.
The end outcome: a approach to effectively and effectively sterilize 200 masks each eight minutes! The "Bug Zapper" in action. "Our current items were not designed for big-scale use. They might only sterilize about 30 masks at a time," said Eric Tesoriero, DO, anesthesiologist for St. Luke’s and a collaborator on the venture. The unit, engineered by Lehigh students and staff and assembled at St. Luke’s by biomedical engineer Jay Johnson, has been affectionally named the "Bug Zapper" not solely resulting from its appearance, but as a result of its COVID-killing properties. "It is unimaginable that this mission moved at such a rapid velocity," remarks Dr. Tansu. The team ranged from PhDs to MDs and even included an unexpected contributor - Axel Tansu, Dr. Tansu’s adolescent son. In actual fact, it was Axel’s contribution that allowed the unit to have such a high-throughput fee. "Our authentic design was cylindrical in shape, to make sure even exposure of the sunshine on all surfaces," explains Dr. Tansu.
"Axel got here to me and stated, ‘Dad, Zap Zone Defender Review what about an octagon? ’ And Zap Zone Defender positive sufficient, he was proper. A patent to guard the team’s intellectual design has been filed. And a celebration for the collaborators to fulfill, Zap Zone Defender Testimonial in-person, shall be planned as soon as it's secure to do so. Until then, Zap Zone Defender Testimonial the Bug Zapper will probably be hard at work, serving to to protect the frontline employees at St. Luke’s and beyond. This, like so many other stories, provides a ray of hope through the pandemic - showcasing that the human mind and spirit can overcome something - particularly when working collectively for an incredible cause. Afterall, because the famous philosopher Plato understood hundreds of years ago, necessity is the mom of invention. Founded in 1872, St. Luke's University Health Network (SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit community of greater than 15,000 workers providing services at 11 hospitals and Zap Zone Defender Testimonial 300 outpatient websites. With annual net income higher than $2 billion, the Network’s service area contains eleven counties: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Zap Zone Defender Testimonial Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey.