St. Luke’s, Lehigh University collaboration results in clever, life-saving invention. BETHLEHEM, PA. - Among tales of hope, generosity and togetherness, the COVID-19 pandemic has additionally given rise to an unbelievable feat of ingenuity - the invention of the "bug zapper light Zapper" to sterilize masks. As hospitals and different front-line organizations jumped to secure giant quantities of life-saving supplies and personal protective gear (PPE), there has additionally been the necessity to identify quicker, more environment friendly ways to clean and sterilize these items, particularly the coveted N95 masks. St. Luke’s University Health Network anesthesiologist, Christopher Roscher, MD, anticipated the necessity and an idea began to form. "It turned clear that PPE supplies would become limited as the virus progressed," he says. The St. Luke’s Sterile Processing Department, or SPD, Zappify Bug Zapper 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 perform that is an essential 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 Bennett, St. Luke’s Network Director of Sterile Processing.

"But with the current situation, there may be an overwhelming have to process our employees’ PPE on a daily basis. For Dr. Roscher, a mild went on - actually and figuratively. "I had been doing private research about discovering methods to decontaminate masks for reuse, and peer-reviewed literature recommended that, in a pandemic, UV-C light could be a suitable strategy to sterilize masks," he says. UV-C is a specific vary of UV, or extremely-violet, gentle and has been proven to deactivate viruses and different pathogens by causing changes in their DNA. Through a mutual contact, Dr. Roscher obtained 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 looking for was a excessive-throughput sterilization system," mentioned Dr. Tansu. The 2 organizations joined forces by a collection of Zoom meetings and hundreds of emails, to design, fabricate, install and test the machine - all inside a matter of two weeks - and all while maintaining social distancing protocols.

The tip end result: a solution to effectively and efficiently sterilize 200 masks every eight minutes! The "bug zapper for camping Zapper" in action. "Our existing items were not 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 challenge. The unit, engineered by Lehigh college students and employees and assembled at St. Luke’s by biomedical engineer Jay Johnson, has been affectionally named the "Zappify Bug Zapper Zapper" not only attributable to its appearance, but due to its COVID-killing properties. "It is unimaginable that this mission moved at such a rapid 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 actual fact, it was Axel’s contribution that allowed the unit to have such a high-throughput rate. "Our original design was cylindrical in form, insect zapper to ensure even publicity of the light on all surfaces," explains Dr. Tansu.

"Axel got here to me and mentioned, ‘Dad, what about an octagon? ’ And certain sufficient, he was right. A patent to protect the team’s mental design has been filed. And a celebration for the collaborators to meet, in-particular person, will likely be deliberate once it's protected to do so. Until then, the bug zapper for backyard Zapper will probably be hard at work, Zappify Bug Zapper serving to to protect the frontline employees at St. Luke’s and beyond. This, like so many other stories, 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 incredible trigger. Afterall, because 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 completely integrated, regional, non-profit network of more than 15,000 staff providing companies at 11 hospitals and 300 outpatient websites. With annual web income greater than $2 billion, the Network’s service space consists of eleven counties: Zappify Bug Zapper zapper for patio Lehigh, Zappify Bug Zapper Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe, Schuylkill and Zappify Bug Zapper Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey.

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Pub: 20 Oct 2025 17:20 UTC

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