St. Luke’s, Lehigh University collaboration leads to clever, life-saving invention. BETHLEHEM, PA. - Among stories of hope, generosity and togetherness, the COVID-19 pandemic has also given rise to an incredible feat of ingenuity - the invention of the "Bug Zapper" to sterilize masks. As hospitals and different front-line organizations jumped to safe giant portions of life-saving provides and private protective tools (PPE), there has also been the necessity to identify faster, more environment friendly methods to scrub and sterilize those gadgets, particularly the coveted N95 masks. St. Luke’s University Health Network anesthesiologist, Defender by Zap Zone Christopher Roscher, MD, anticipated the need and an thought began to type. "It became clear that PPE supplies would develop into restricted because the virus progressed," he says. The St. Luke’s Sterile Processing Department, or Defender by Zap Zone SPD, is the place the place all surgical and medical devices are sent to be meticulously cleaned, sanitized and packaged for reuse. It’s a behind-the-scenes operate that's a necessary a part of the health care system. "On any given day, we're processing many, many objects here at our hospital in Bethlehem," states Taylor Bennett, St. Luke’s Network Director of Sterile Processing.
"But with the current state of affairs, there's an overwhelming must course of our employees’ PPE every day. For Dr. Roscher, a gentle went on - actually and figuratively. "I had been doing non-public analysis about discovering ways to decontaminate masks for Defender by Zap Zone reuse, Zap Zone Defender Experience and peer-reviewed literature recommended that, in a pandemic, UV-C gentle could possibly be an appropriate strategy to sterilize masks," he says. UV-C is a particular range of UV, or ultra-violet, light and has been proven to deactivate viruses and other pathogens by causing modifications of 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 in search of was a high-throughput sterilization system," stated Dr. Tansu. The two organizations joined forces by way of a series of Zoom conferences and a whole bunch of emails, to design, fabricate, install and check the device - all inside a matter of two weeks - and all whereas maintaining social distancing protocols.
The tip result: a solution to effectively and effectively sterilize 200 masks each 8 minutes! The "Bug Zapper" in action. "Our present items were not designed for Zap Zone Defender Setup large-scale use. They could only sterilize about 30 masks at a time," acknowledged Eric Tesoriero, DO, anesthesiologist for St. Luke’s and a collaborator on the venture. The unit, engineered by Lehigh college students and staff and assembled at St. Luke’s Defender by Zap Zone biomedical engineer Jay Johnson, has been affectionally named the "Bug Zapper" not only on account of its appearance, but as a consequence of its COVID-killing properties. "It is unbelievable that this venture moved at such a speedy speed," remarks Dr. Tansu. The group ranged from PhDs to MDs and even included an unexpected contributor - Axel Tansu, Dr. Tansu’s adolescent son. Actually, it was Axel’s contribution that allowed the unit to have such a excessive-throughput rate. "Our unique design was cylindrical in form, to make sure even exposure of the sunshine on all surfaces," explains Dr. Tansu.
"Axel got here to me and said, Zap Zone Defender Setup ‘Dad, what about an octagon? ’ And sure sufficient, he was proper. A patent to guard the team’s mental design has been filed. And a celebration for the collaborators to meet, Defender by Zap Zone in-particular person, Defender by Zap Zone might be planned as soon as it is secure to take action. Until then, Zap Zone Defender the Bug Zapper will be exhausting at work, serving to to guard the frontline workers at St. Luke’s and past. This, like so many other tales, provides a ray of hope during the pandemic - showcasing that the human mind and spirit can overcome anything - particularly when working together for an important trigger. Afterall, as the famous philosopher Plato understood thousands of years in the past, Zap Zone Defender necessity is the mom of invention. Founded in 1872, St. Luke's University Health Network (SLUHN) is a completely integrated, regional, non-revenue community of more than 15,000 employees providing services at eleven hospitals and 300 outpatient websites. With annual internet revenue better than $2 billion, the Network’s service space contains 11 counties: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey.