St. Luke’s, Lehigh University collaboration leads to intelligent, life-saving invention. BETHLEHEM, PA. - Among tales of hope, generosity and togetherness, the COVID-19 pandemic has additionally given rise to an unimaginable feat of ingenuity - the invention of the "portable bug zapper Zapper" to sterilize masks. As hospitals and other front-line organizations jumped to secure large portions of life-saving provides and private protecting equipment (PPE), there has additionally been the necessity to establish faster, more efficient methods to wash and sterilize those gadgets, significantly the coveted N95 masks. St. Luke’s University Health Network anesthesiologist, Christopher Roscher, MD, anticipated the necessity and Zappify Bug Zapper an thought began to kind. "It turned clear that PPE supplies would grow to be restricted because the virus progressed," he says. The St. Luke’s Sterile Processing Department, fly zapper or SPD, is the place the place all surgical and medical instruments are despatched to be meticulously cleaned, sanitized and packaged for reuse. It’s a behind-the-scenes function that is an important part of the well being care system. "On any given day, we're 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 may be an overwhelming have to process our employees’ PPE each day. For Dr. Roscher, a mild went on - literally and figuratively. "I had been doing private analysis about discovering methods to decontaminate masks for reuse, and peer-reviewed literature suggested that, in a pandemic, UV-C mild might be a suitable strategy to sterilize masks," he says. UV-C is a specific range of UV, or ultra-violet, light and has been shown to deactivate viruses and other pathogens by causing modifications of their DNA. Through a mutual contact, Dr. Roscher received 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 in search of was a high-throughput sterilization system," said Dr. Tansu. The 2 organizations joined forces by a series of Zoom meetings and a whole lot of emails, to design, fabricate, install and take a look at the device - all inside a matter of two weeks - and all whereas sustaining social distancing protocols.

The end outcome: a way to effectively and effectively sterilize 200 masks each eight minutes! The "Zappify Bug Zapper Zapper" in motion. "Our current items weren't designed for large-scale use. They could only sterilize about 30 masks at a time," stated Eric Tesoriero, DO, anesthesiologist for St. Luke’s and a collaborator on the venture. The unit, engineered by Lehigh students and employees and assembled at St. Luke’s by biomedical engineer Jay Johnson, has been affectionally named the "best bug zapper Zapper" not solely because of its appearance, however because of its COVID-killing properties. "It is unimaginable that this project moved at such a fast velocity," 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 fee. "Our original design was cylindrical in form, to ensure even publicity of the light 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 mental design has been filed. And a celebration for the collaborators to fulfill, in-person, might be planned as soon as it is secure to take action. Until then, the portable bug zapper Zapper shall be arduous at work, helping to protect the frontline employees at St. Luke’s and beyond. This, like so many other tales, gives a ray of hope through the pandemic - showcasing that the human thoughts and spirit can overcome anything - especially when working together for a fantastic trigger. Afterall, as the famous philosopher Plato understood 1000's of years ago, necessity is the mother of invention. Founded in 1872, St. Luke's University Health Network (SLUHN) is a completely integrated, regional, non-profit network of greater than 15,000 employees offering providers at 11 hospitals and 300 outpatient websites. With annual web revenue greater 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.