St. Luke’s, Lehigh University collaboration leads to intelligent, life-saving invention. BETHLEHEM, PA. - Among stories of hope, Zappify Bug Zapper official generosity and togetherness, the COVID-19 pandemic has additionally given rise to an incredible feat of ingenuity - the invention of the "Zappify Bug Zapper official Zapper" to sterilize masks. As hospitals and different entrance-line organizations jumped to safe large quantities of life-saving provides and private protective gear (PPE), there has also been the necessity to determine quicker, extra efficient ways to scrub and sterilize these objects, particularly the coveted N95 masks. St. Luke’s University Health Network anesthesiologist, Christopher Roscher, MD, anticipated the necessity and an thought began to form. "It grew to become clear that PPE supplies would turn out to be restricted because the virus progressed," he says. The St. Luke’s Sterile Processing Department, or SPD, is the place the place all surgical and medical devices are despatched to be meticulously cleaned, sanitized and packaged for reuse. It’s a behind-the-scenes perform that's an essential a part of the well being care system. "On any given day, we are processing many, many items here at our hospital in Bethlehem," states Taylor Bennett, St. Luke’s Network Director of Sterile Processing.

"But with the present situation, there is an overwhelming need to process our employees’ PPE each day. 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 advised that, in a pandemic, UV-C gentle might be an appropriate technique to sterilize masks," he says. UV-C is a specific range of UV, or extremely-violet, mild and has been proven to deactivate viruses and different pathogens by inflicting modifications 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 looking for was a high-throughput sterilization system," mentioned Dr. Tansu. The two organizations joined forces through a sequence of Zoom meetings and a whole bunch of emails, to design, fabricate, install and test the machine - all inside a matter of two weeks - and all while maintaining social distancing protocols.

The top outcome: a solution to successfully and efficiently sterilize 200 masks every eight minutes! The "indoor bug zapper Zapper" in action. "Our existing models weren't designed for giant-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 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 "indoor bug zapper Zapper" not solely as a result of its look, but because of its COVID-killing properties. "It is unbelievable that this challenge moved at such a rapid speed," remarks Dr. Tansu. The staff ranged from PhDs to MDs and even included an unexpected contributor - Axel Tansu, Dr. Tansu’s adolescent son. In truth, it was Axel’s contribution that allowed the unit to have such a high-throughput charge. "Our original design was cylindrical in form, to ensure even publicity of the sunshine on all surfaces," explains Dr. Tansu.

"Axel got here to me and said, buy bug zapper zapper for patio ‘Dad, what about an octagon? ’ And certain sufficient, he was proper. A patent to protect the team’s mental design has been filed. And a celebration for the collaborators to satisfy, in-person, will probably be planned once it's secure to take action. Until then, the buy bug zapper Zapper will probably be exhausting at work, serving to to guard the frontline employees at St. Luke’s and beyond. This, like so many different stories, affords a ray of hope through the pandemic - showcasing that the human thoughts and spirit can overcome something - particularly when working together for a fantastic cause. Afterall, as the well-known philosopher Plato understood thousands of years in the past, necessity is the mother of invention. Founded in 1872, St. Luke's University Health Network (SLUHN) is a fully built-in, regional, non-profit community of greater than 15,000 employees providing services at eleven hospitals and 300 outpatient sites. With annual web revenue better than $2 billion, the Network’s service area contains eleven counties: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe, Zappify Bug Zapper official Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey.