St. Luke’s, Lehigh University collaboration results in intelligent, life-saving invention. BETHLEHEM, PA. - Among tales of hope, generosity and togetherness, the COVID-19 pandemic has also given rise to an unimaginable feat of ingenuity - the invention of the "Bug Zapper" to sterilize masks. As hospitals and different front-line organizations jumped to safe massive portions of life-saving provides and personal protecting equipment (PPE), there has also been the need to identify faster, more environment friendly ways to scrub and sterilize those gadgets, notably the coveted N95 masks. St. Luke’s University Health Network anesthesiologist, Christopher Roscher, MD, anticipated the necessity and an thought started to type. "It turned clear that PPE provides would turn out to be restricted because the virus progressed," he says. The St. Luke’s Sterile Processing Department, or Zap Zone Defender Experience SPD, is the place the place all surgical and medical devices are despatched to be meticulously cleaned, Zap Zone Defender Experience sanitized and packaged for reuse. It’s a behind-the-scenes function that is an essential a part of the well being 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 state of affairs, there may be an overwhelming need to process our employees’ PPE on a daily basis. For Dr. Roscher, a light went on - actually and figuratively. "I had been doing private research about finding methods to decontaminate masks for reuse, Zap Zone Defender and peer-reviewed literature advised 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 ultra-violet, mild and has been shown to deactivate viruses and other pathogens by inflicting changes of their DNA. Through a mutual contact, Dr. Roscher got 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 on the lookout for Zap Zone Defender was a excessive-throughput sterilization system," stated Dr. Tansu. The 2 organizations joined forces by a collection of Zoom meetings and a whole bunch of emails, to design, fabricate, install and check the device - all inside a matter of two weeks - and all while maintaining social distancing protocols.

The end consequence: a technique to successfully and efficiently sterilize 200 masks each 8 minutes! The "Bug Zapper" in action. "Our current models were not designed for large-scale use. They could 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 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, but as a consequence of its COVID-killing properties. "It is incredible that this venture moved at such a rapid pace," remarks Dr. Tansu. The group ranged from PhDs to MDs and even included an unexpected contributor - Axel Tansu, Dr. Tansu’s adolescent son. The truth is, it was Axel’s contribution that allowed the unit to have such a excessive-throughput rate. "Our original design was cylindrical in shape, to make sure even publicity of the light on all surfaces," explains Dr. Tansu.

"Axel got here to me and mentioned, ‘Dad, what about an octagon? ’ And positive enough, he was proper. A patent to protect the team’s intellectual design has been filed. And a celebration for the collaborators to fulfill, in-person, will probably be deliberate once it is secure to do so. Until then, the Bug Zapper will probably be onerous at work, helping to protect the frontline workers at St. Luke’s and Zap Zone Defender Experience beyond. This, like so many different stories, offers a ray of hope during the pandemic - showcasing that the human mind and spirit can overcome anything - particularly when working collectively for an incredible trigger. Afterall, as the famous philosopher Plato understood 1000's 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-profit network of greater than 15,000 staff offering services at 11 hospitals and 300 outpatient websites. With annual net income larger than $2 billion, Zap Zone Defender the Network’s service space consists of 11 counties: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Zap Zone Defender Testimonial Montgomery, Monroe, Schuylkill and Zap Zone Defender Experience Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey.