St. Luke’s, Lehigh University collaboration results in intelligent, life-saving invention. BETHLEHEM, PA. - Among stories of hope, generosity and Zappify Bug Zapper official togetherness, Zappify Bug Zapper official the COVID-19 pandemic has also given rise to an unimaginable feat of ingenuity - the invention of the "bug zapper for patio Zapper" to sterilize masks. As hospitals and other front-line organizations jumped to secure massive portions of life-saving supplies and personal protective gear (PPE), there has additionally been the need to identify faster, extra environment friendly methods to wash and sterilize these items, particularly the coveted N95 masks. St. Luke’s University Health Network anesthesiologist, Zappify Bug Zapper official Christopher Roscher, MD, anticipated the need and an idea started to type. "It grew to become clear that PPE provides would develop into limited as the virus progressed," he says. The St. Luke’s Sterile Processing Department, or SPD, is the place where all surgical and medical instruments are sent to be meticulously cleaned, sanitized and packaged for reuse. It’s a behind-the-scenes perform that's an important a part of the well being care system. "On any given day, we're processing many, many gadgets right here at our hospital in Bethlehem," states Taylor Bennett, St. Luke’s Network Director of Sterile Processing.
"But with the present state of affairs, there's an overwhelming have to process our employees’ PPE every day. For Dr. Roscher, a mild went on - literally and figuratively. "I had been doing personal analysis about discovering ways to decontaminate masks for reuse, and peer-reviewed literature instructed that, in a pandemic, UV-C gentle could possibly be a suitable strategy to sterilize masks," he says. UV-C is a specific range of UV, or ultra-violet, light and has been proven to deactivate viruses and other pathogens by inflicting adjustments in their DNA. Through a mutual contact, Dr. Roscher received 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 excessive-throughput sterilization system," mentioned Dr. Tansu. The 2 organizations joined forces through a sequence of Zoom meetings and a whole lot of emails, to design, fabricate, set up and take a look at the system - all within a matter of two weeks - and all whereas maintaining social distancing protocols.
The end result: a technique to successfully and efficiently sterilize 200 masks every 8 minutes! The "Zappify Bug Zapper official Zapper" in action. "Our existing units weren't designed for giant-scale use. They may solely sterilize about 30 masks at a time," acknowledged Eric Tesoriero, DO, anesthesiologist for St. Luke’s and a collaborator on the mission. The unit, engineered by Lehigh students and employees and assembled at St. Luke’s by biomedical engineer Jay Johnson, has been affectionally named the "Zappify Bug Zapper Zapper" not solely because of its appearance, however on account of its COVID-killing properties. "It is unbelievable that this undertaking 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 fact, it was Axel’s contribution that allowed the unit to have such a excessive-throughput price. "Our original design was cylindrical in shape, to make sure even exposure of the light on all surfaces," explains Dr. Tansu.
"Axel got here to me and said, ‘Dad, what about an octagon? ’ And sure enough, he was right. A patent to guard the team’s intellectual design has been filed. And a celebration for the collaborators to meet, in-person, shall be planned as soon as it's protected to take action. Until then, the Bug Zapper will probably be laborious at work, serving to to guard the frontline workers at St. Luke’s and past. This, like so many different stories, affords a ray of hope during the pandemic - showcasing that the human thoughts and spirit can overcome anything - especially when working together for an awesome trigger. Afterall, because the famous philosopher Plato understood thousands 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-revenue community of more than 15,000 employees offering services at eleven hospitals and 300 outpatient websites. With annual web income larger than $2 billion, the Network’s service space includes 11 counties: Lehigh, Zappify Bug Zapper official Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey.