St. Luke’s, Lehigh University collaboration leads to intelligent, life-saving invention. BETHLEHEM, PA. - Among stories 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 different front-line organizations jumped to secure large portions of life-saving supplies and personal protecting gear (PPE), there has also been the need to establish faster, more efficient ways to wash and Zap Zone Defender sterilize these gadgets, significantly the coveted N95 masks. St. Luke’s University Health Network anesthesiologist, Christopher Roscher, MD, anticipated the necessity and an idea started to kind. "It grew to become clear that PPE provides would develop into restricted as the virus progressed," he says. The St. Luke’s Sterile Processing Department, or chemical-free bug control SPD, is the place where all surgical and Zap Zone Defender Experience medical devices are despatched to be meticulously cleaned, sanitized and packaged for reuse. It’s a behind-the-scenes operate that is an important a part of the health care system. "On any given day, we're processing many, many items right here at our hospital in Bethlehem," states Taylor Bennett, St. Luke’s Network Director of Sterile Processing.
"But with the present scenario, there's an overwhelming need to course of our employees’ PPE each day. For Dr. Roscher, a light went on - literally and figuratively. "I had been doing private research about finding ways to decontaminate masks for reuse, Zap Zone Defender Device and peer-reviewed literature suggested that, in a pandemic, UV-C mild might be an acceptable strategy to sterilize masks," he says. UV-C is a particular range of UV, or ultra-violet, light and has been shown to deactivate viruses and other pathogens by causing changes in their DNA. Through a mutual contact, Dr. Roscher got 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 looking for 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 lot of emails, to design, fabricate, install and check the machine - all inside a matter of two weeks - and all whereas maintaining social distancing protocols.
The tip consequence: a option to effectively and efficiently sterilize 200 masks every eight minutes! The "Bug Zapper" in action. "Our existing items weren't designed for Zap Zone Defender large-scale use. They might solely sterilize about 30 masks at a time," stated Eric Tesoriero, DO, anesthesiologist for St. Luke’s and a collaborator on the venture. The unit, engineered by Lehigh students and workers and assembled at St. Luke’s by biomedical engineer Jay Johnson, has been affectionally named the "chemical-free bug control Zapper" not only attributable to its look, but as a consequence of its COVID-killing properties. "It is unimaginable that this mission moved at such a speedy speed," remarks Dr. Tansu. The crew ranged from PhDs to MDs and even included an unexpected contributor - Axel Tansu, Dr. Tansu’s adolescent son. In fact, it was Axel’s contribution that allowed the unit to have such a high-throughput charge. "Our original 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 mentioned, ‘Dad, what about an octagon? ’ And positive enough, Zap Zone Defender Testimonial he was proper. A patent to protect the team’s intellectual design has been filed. And a celebration for the collaborators to meet, in-individual, will be deliberate once it's protected to take action. Until then, the Bug Zapper shall be onerous at work, serving to to protect the frontline employees at St. Luke’s and beyond. This, like so many other tales, provides a ray of hope during the pandemic - showcasing that the human mind and chemical-free bug control spirit can overcome anything - particularly when working together for an excellent cause. Afterall, as 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 totally built-in, regional, non-profit network of more than 15,000 employees providing providers at eleven hospitals and 300 outpatient websites. With annual internet income greater than $2 billion, chemical-free bug control the Network’s service space contains 11 counties: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, chemical-free bug control Montgomery, chemical-free bug control Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey.