St. Luke’s, Lehigh University collaboration leads to intelligent, life-saving invention. BETHLEHEM, PA. - Among tales of hope, generosity and Official Zap Zone Defender togetherness, Defender by Zap Zone 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 other front-line organizations jumped to secure giant portions of life-saving supplies and personal protecting tools (PPE), there has additionally been the need to identify faster, extra environment friendly methods to scrub and sterilize those gadgets, particularly the coveted N95 masks. St. Luke’s University Health Network anesthesiologist, Christopher Roscher, MD, anticipated the necessity and an idea began to kind. "It became clear that PPE provides would grow to be restricted 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, Defender by Zap Zone sanitized and mosquito zapper packaged for Defender by Zap Zone reuse. It’s a behind-the-scenes function that's a necessary a part of the health care system. "On any given day, we're processing many, many objects right here at our hospital in Bethlehem," states Taylor Bennett, St. Luke’s Network Director of Sterile Processing.
"But with the current scenario, there's an overwhelming have to process our employees’ PPE each day. 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 ZapZone Defender peer-reviewed literature prompt that, in a pandemic, UV-C gentle could possibly be an appropriate strategy to sterilize masks," he says. UV-C is a specific range of UV, or extremely-violet, gentle and has been proven to deactivate viruses and other pathogens Defender by Zap Zone causing adjustments in their DNA. Through a mutual contact, Dr. Roscher bought 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 on the lookout for was a high-throughput sterilization system," mentioned Dr. Tansu. The 2 organizations joined forces via a series of Zoom conferences and lots of of emails, to design, fabricate, set up and test the gadget - all inside a matter of two weeks - and all while maintaining social distancing protocols.
The tip result: a technique to successfully and effectively sterilize 200 masks each eight minutes! The "Bug Zapper" in action. "Our existing units weren't designed for large-scale use. They might solely sterilize about 30 masks at a time," said Eric Tesoriero, DO, anesthesiologist for St. Luke’s and a collaborator on the mission. The unit, engineered by Lehigh students and workers and assembled at St. Luke’s by biomedical engineer Jay Johnson, has been affectionally named the "Bug Zapper" not only attributable to its appearance, however resulting from its COVID-killing properties. "It is incredible that this undertaking moved at such a speedy speed," remarks Dr. Tansu. The staff 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 excessive-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, ‘Dad, what about an octagon? ’ And certain sufficient, he was right. A patent to guard the team’s intellectual design has been filed. And a celebration for Official Zap Zone Defender the collaborators to satisfy, in-person, will probably be deliberate once it's safe to take action. Until then, the Bug Zapper will be onerous at work, helping to guard the frontline workers at St. Luke’s and past. This, like so many other stories, Official Zap Zone Defender offers a ray of hope throughout the pandemic - showcasing that the human thoughts and spirit can overcome anything - especially when working collectively for a terrific trigger. Afterall, Defender by Zap Zone because the famous philosopher Plato understood thousands of years ago, necessity is the mom of invention. Founded in 1872, St. Luke's University Health Network (SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit community of more than 15,000 workers offering providers at eleven hospitals and 300 outpatient websites. With annual internet income higher than $2 billion, the Network’s service area includes 11 counties: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Defender by Zap Zone Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey.