St. Luke’s, Zap Zone Defender Device Lehigh University collaboration leads to clever, Zap Zone Defender 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 safe large portions of life-saving supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE), there has additionally been the necessity to identify faster, extra environment friendly methods to clean and Zap Zone Defender sterilize those items, significantly the coveted N95 masks. St. Luke’s University Health Network anesthesiologist, Christopher Roscher, MD, anticipated the necessity and an idea started to form. "It became 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 medical instruments are sent to be meticulously cleaned, sanitized and packaged for reuse. It’s a behind-the-scenes function that's a necessary a part of the well being care system. "On any given day, we are processing many, many objects 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 is an overwhelming must process our employees’ PPE on a daily basis. For Dr. Roscher, a light went on - literally and figuratively. "I had been doing private analysis about discovering ways to decontaminate masks for reuse, and peer-reviewed literature urged that, in a pandemic, UV-C gentle may very well be an appropriate strategy to sterilize masks," he says. UV-C is a specific range of UV, or extremely-violet, light and has been proven to deactivate viruses and different pathogens by inflicting changes of their DNA. Through a mutual contact, Dr. Roscher acquired 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 excessive-throughput sterilization system," stated Dr. Tansu. The two organizations joined forces by a series of Zoom conferences and hundreds of emails, to design, fabricate, set up and take a look at the machine - all within a matter of two weeks - and all whereas sustaining social distancing protocols.
The tip outcome: a method to successfully and effectively sterilize 200 masks every eight minutes! The "Bug Zapper" in action. "Our present units weren't designed for big-scale use. They may 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 students and workers and assembled at St. Luke’s by biomedical engineer Jay Johnson, has been affectionally named the "Bug Zapper" not solely due to its look, but attributable to its COVID-killing properties. "It is unimaginable that this project moved at such a rapid speed," remarks Dr. Tansu. The team ranged from PhDs to MDs and even included an unexpected contributor - Axel Tansu, Dr. Tansu’s adolescent son. In reality, it was Axel’s contribution that allowed the unit to have such a high-throughput rate. "Our unique design was cylindrical in form, to ensure even publicity of the light on all surfaces," explains Dr. Tansu.
"Axel came to me and said, ‘Dad, what about an octagon? ’ And sure enough, he was right. A patent to guard the team’s mental design has been filed. And a celebration for the collaborators to fulfill, in-individual, will be deliberate once it's protected to do so. Until then, the Bug Zapper will probably be arduous at work, serving to to protect the frontline staff at St. Luke’s and Zap Zone Defender Device beyond. This, like so many different stories, provides a ray of hope during the pandemic - showcasing that the human mind and Zap Zone Defender spirit can overcome something - especially when working collectively for a terrific cause. Afterall, because the well-known philosopher Plato understood 1000's of years ago, necessity is the mom of invention. Founded in 1872, St. Luke's University Health Network (SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, Zap Zone Defender Device non-revenue community of more than 15,000 workers providing services at eleven hospitals and 300 outpatient sites. With annual internet income better than $2 billion, the Network’s service space includes eleven counties: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, ZapZone Defender Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Zap Zone Defender Device Warren and Zap Zone Defender Device Hunterdon counties in New Jersey.