St. Luke’s, 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 incredible feat of ingenuity - the invention of the "Bug Zapper" to sterilize masks. As hospitals and Zap Zone Defender System other front-line organizations jumped to safe large quantities of life-saving supplies and personal protecting tools (PPE), there has additionally been the necessity to determine faster, extra environment friendly ways to scrub and Zap Zone Defender sterilize these items, particularly the coveted N95 masks. St. Luke’s University Health Network anesthesiologist, Christopher Roscher, Zone Defender MD, Zap Zone Defender System anticipated the need and an thought began to form. "It became clear that PPE supplies would become restricted as the virus progressed," he says. The St. Luke’s Sterile Processing Department, or SPD, is the place where all surgical and Zap Zone Defender System medical instruments are despatched to be meticulously cleaned, sanitized and packaged for reuse. It’s a behind-the-scenes operate that is an important part of the health care system. "On any given day, we are processing many, many objects right here at our hospital in Bethlehem," states Taylor Bennett, Zap Zone Defender Device St. Luke’s Network Director of Sterile Processing.
"But with the present state of affairs, there's an overwhelming must course of our employees’ PPE every day. For Dr. Roscher, a mild went on - actually and figuratively. "I had been doing personal analysis about finding methods to decontaminate masks for reuse, and peer-reviewed literature steered that, in a pandemic, UV-C gentle may very well be an appropriate technique to sterilize masks," he says. UV-C is a specific vary of UV, or ultra-violet, gentle and has been proven to deactivate viruses and other pathogens by causing modifications of their DNA. Through a mutual contact, Dr. Roscher obtained 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 looking for was a excessive-throughput sterilization system," stated Dr. Tansu. The two organizations joined forces by means of a series of Zoom conferences and lots of of emails, to design, fabricate, install and test the Zap Zone Defender System - all inside a matter of two weeks - and all whereas sustaining social distancing protocols.
The top end result: a technique to effectively and effectively sterilize 200 masks every eight minutes! The "Bug Zapper" in action. "Our existing units were not designed for Zap Zone Defender System giant-scale use. They could only sterilize about 30 masks at a time," said Eric Tesoriero, DO, anesthesiologist for St. Luke’s and a collaborator on the undertaking. The unit, engineered by Lehigh college students and employees and assembled at St. Luke’s by biomedical engineer Jay Johnson, has been affectionally named the "Bug Zapper" not solely as a consequence of its appearance, but as a consequence of its COVID-killing properties. "It is unimaginable that this mission moved at such a fast 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 actual fact, it was Axel’s contribution that allowed the unit to have such a excessive-throughput price. "Our authentic design was cylindrical in shape, to make sure even exposure of the sunshine on all surfaces," explains Dr. Tansu.
"Axel came to me and mentioned, ‘Dad, what about an octagon? ’ And certain sufficient, Zap Zone Defender System he was proper. A patent to protect the team’s intellectual design has been filed. And a celebration for the collaborators to satisfy, in-particular person, will be deliberate once it is safe to do so. Until then, the Bug Zapper will be laborious at work, helping to guard the frontline employees at St. Luke’s and past. This, like so many other stories, provides a ray of hope throughout the pandemic - showcasing that the human mind and spirit can overcome anything - particularly when working together for an incredible cause. Afterall, because 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 totally built-in, regional, non-profit community of more than 15,000 workers offering providers at eleven hospitals and 300 outpatient websites. With annual web income better than $2 billion, Zap Zone Defender the Network’s service area contains eleven counties: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey.