St. Luke’s, Lehigh University collaboration results in intelligent, 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 other front-line organizations jumped to safe large quantities of life-saving provides and personal protecting equipment (PPE), there has also been the necessity to establish quicker, more environment friendly ways to scrub and sterilize these gadgets, significantly the coveted N95 masks. St. Luke’s University Health Network anesthesiologist, Christopher Roscher, MD, anticipated the need and an concept started to kind. "It turned clear that PPE provides would turn out to be limited because the virus progressed," he says. The St. Luke’s Sterile Processing Department, or SPD, is the place where all surgical and medical devices are despatched to be meticulously cleaned, sanitized and packaged for reuse. It’s a behind-the-scenes perform that is a vital a part of the health care system. "On any given day, we're processing many, many objects here at our hospital in Bethlehem," states Taylor Bennett, St. Luke’s Network Director chemical-free bug control of Sterile Processing.

"But with the current situation, there is an overwhelming need to course of our employees’ PPE on a daily basis. For Dr. Roscher, a gentle went on - literally and figuratively. "I had been doing personal research about finding ways to decontaminate masks for reuse, and peer-reviewed literature instructed that, in a pandemic, UV-C light might be an acceptable technique to sterilize masks," he says. UV-C is a particular vary of UV, or ultra-violet, light and has been shown 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 on the lookout for was a excessive-throughput sterilization system," mentioned Dr. Tansu. The two organizations joined forces via a collection of Zoom conferences and a whole bunch of emails, to design, fabricate, set up and check the device - all within a matter of two weeks - and all whereas sustaining social distancing protocols.

The end outcome: a strategy to successfully and effectively sterilize 200 masks every eight minutes! The "Bug Zapper" in motion. "Our current models were not designed for big-scale use. They may only sterilize about 30 masks at a time," said 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 "chemical-free bug control Zapper" not only attributable to its look, however on account of its COVID-killing properties. "It is unimaginable that this mission moved at such a rapid pace," remarks Dr. Tansu. The workforce 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 charge. "Our unique design was cylindrical in shape, to make sure even exposure of the light on all surfaces," explains Dr. Tansu.

"Axel got here to me and mentioned, ‘Dad, what about an octagon? ’ And certain enough, Official Zap Zone Defender he was proper. A patent to protect the team’s intellectual design has been filed. And a celebration for the collaborators to meet, in-individual, Zap Zone Defender System shall be deliberate as soon as it's secure to do so. Until then, the Bug Zapper might be exhausting at work, helping to guard the frontline employees at St. Luke’s and beyond. This, like so many different tales, offers a ray of hope in the course of the pandemic - showcasing that the human mind and spirit can overcome something - particularly when working together for an excellent cause. Afterall, as the famous philosopher Plato understood hundreds of years ago, necessity is the mom of invention. Founded in 1872, St. Luke's University Health Network (SLUHN) is a totally built-in, regional, non-revenue network of greater than 15,000 employees providing providers at 11 hospitals and 300 outpatient sites. With annual web income higher than $2 billion, the Network’s service area contains 11 counties: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey.