St. Luke’s, Lehigh University collaboration leads to intelligent, life-saving invention. BETHLEHEM, PA. - Among tales of hope, generosity and Zap Zone Defender togetherness, Zap Zone Defender Device 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 private protective gear (PPE), there has additionally been the necessity to establish quicker, extra efficient methods to clean and sterilize those objects, particularly the coveted N95 masks. St. Luke’s University Health Network anesthesiologist, Christopher Roscher, MD, anticipated the necessity and indoor-outdoor zapper an thought started to kind. "It grew to become clear that PPE provides would turn out to be restricted because the virus progressed," he says. The St. Luke’s Sterile Processing Department, or SPD, is the place where all surgical and Zap Zone medical instruments are despatched to be meticulously cleaned, sanitized and packaged for reuse. It’s a behind-the-scenes function that is an important 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, Zap Zone Defender Device St. Luke’s Network Director of Sterile Processing.
"But with the present situation, there is an overwhelming must process our employees’ PPE each day. For Dr. Roscher, a gentle went on - actually and figuratively. "I had been doing non-public research about finding methods to decontaminate masks for reuse, and peer-reviewed literature recommended that, in a pandemic, UV-C mild could possibly be an appropriate strategy to sterilize masks," he says. UV-C is a particular vary of UV, or extremely-violet, light and has been shown to deactivate viruses and different pathogens by causing changes 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 in search of was a high-throughput sterilization system," stated Dr. Tansu. The 2 organizations joined forces by means of a series of Zoom meetings and lots of of emails, to design, fabricate, install and check the Zap Zone Defender Device - all within a matter of two weeks - and all whereas maintaining social distancing protocols.
The top outcome: a technique to effectively and effectively sterilize 200 masks each 8 minutes! The "Bug Zapper" in action. "Our current models were not designed for large-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 project. The unit, engineered by Lehigh college students and workers and assembled at St. Luke’s by biomedical engineer Jay Johnson, has been affectionally named the "Bug Zapper" not solely attributable to its look, however resulting from its COVID-killing properties. "It is unimaginable that this project moved at such a rapid velocity," remarks Dr. Tansu. The workforce 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 price. "Our original design was cylindrical in form, to ensure even publicity of the light on all surfaces," explains Dr. Tansu.
"Axel came to me and said, Zap Zone Defender Device ‘Dad, what about an octagon? ’ And positive enough, he was proper. A patent to protect the team’s mental design has been filed. And a celebration for the collaborators to satisfy, in-individual, can be planned once it is safe to take action. Until then, the Bug Zapper will probably be hard at work, helping to protect the frontline workers at St. Luke’s and beyond. This, like so many other tales, offers a ray of hope during the pandemic - showcasing that the human mind and spirit can overcome anything - particularly when working collectively for chemical-free bug control an important cause. Afterall, Zap Zone Defender Device because the well-known philosopher Plato understood thousands of years in the past, necessity is the mom of invention. Founded in 1872, St. Luke's University Health Network (SLUHN) is a fully built-in, regional, non-revenue network of greater than 15,000 employees providing services at eleven hospitals and 300 outpatient sites. With annual web revenue greater than $2 billion, the Network’s service space consists of 11 counties: Lehigh, Northampton, ZapZone Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Zap Zone Defender Device Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey.