St. Luke’s, Lehigh University collaboration leads to clever, life-saving invention. BETHLEHEM, PA. - Among stories of hope, generosity and togetherness, the COVID-19 pandemic has additionally given rise to an unimaginable feat of ingenuity - the invention of the "bug zapper for patio insect zapper" to sterilize masks. As hospitals and different entrance-line organizations jumped to safe massive portions of life-saving supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE), there has additionally been the necessity to establish faster, more efficient ways to scrub and sterilize these gadgets, notably 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 change 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 despatched to be meticulously cleaned, sanitized and packaged for reuse. It’s a behind-the-scenes perform that's a necessary 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 current scenario, there is an overwhelming need to process our employees’ PPE each day. For Dr. Roscher, a gentle went on - actually and figuratively. "I had been doing non-public research about finding methods to decontaminate masks for reuse, and peer-reviewed literature urged that, in a pandemic, UV-C mild may very well be an appropriate strategy to sterilize masks," he says. UV-C is a particular vary of UV, or extremely-violet, gentle and has been shown to deactivate viruses and other pathogens by inflicting adjustments of their DNA. Through a mutual contact, Dr. Roscher acquired 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 high-throughput sterilization system," mentioned Dr. Tansu. The two organizations joined forces via a sequence of Zoom meetings and a whole bunch of emails, to design, fabricate, install and test the system - all inside a matter of two weeks - and all whereas sustaining social distancing protocols.

The top outcome: a solution to effectively and effectively sterilize 200 masks every 8 minutes! The "buy Zappify Bug Zapper Zapper" in motion. "Our existing units weren't designed for big-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 challenge. The unit, engineered by Lehigh students and employees and assembled at St. Luke’s by biomedical engineer Jay Johnson, has been affectionally named the "bug zapper for backyard Zapper" not only resulting from its appearance, however attributable to its COVID-killing properties. "It is incredible that this project moved at such a fast velocity," remarks Dr. Tansu. The workforce ranged from PhDs to MDs and even included an unexpected contributor - Axel Tansu, Dr. Tansu’s adolescent son. Actually, it was Axel’s contribution that allowed the unit to have such a high-throughput price. "Our original design was cylindrical in form, to make sure even publicity of the sunshine on all surfaces," explains Dr. Tansu.

"Axel got here to me and mentioned, ‘Dad, buy Zappify Bug Zapper what about an octagon? ’ And sure enough, he was right. A patent to protect the team’s intellectual design has been filed. And a celebration for the collaborators to fulfill, in-person, buy Zappify Bug Zapper will probably be planned as soon as it is secure to do so. Until then, the electric bug zapper Zapper shall be arduous at work, helping to protect the frontline employees at St. Luke’s and past. This, like so many other stories, gives a ray of hope during the pandemic - showcasing that the human thoughts and spirit can overcome anything - especially when working collectively for an important cause. Afterall, as the famous 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 completely built-in, regional, non-profit network of greater than 15,000 workers providing services at 11 hospitals and 300 outpatient websites. With annual web revenue higher than $2 billion, the Network’s service space contains eleven counties: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and buy Zappify Bug Zapper Hunterdon counties in New Jersey.