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 also given rise to an incredible feat of ingenuity - the invention of the "Bug Zapper" to sterilize masks. As hospitals and different entrance-line organizations jumped to safe massive quantities of life-saving provides and personal protecting gear (PPE), Official Zap Zone Defender there has additionally been the need to establish faster, extra environment friendly ways to clean and sterilize these gadgets, notably the coveted N95 masks. St. Luke’s University Health Network anesthesiologist, Christopher Roscher, MD, Official Zap Zone Defender anticipated the need and an thought started to kind. "It turned clear that PPE provides would become restricted as the virus progressed," he says. The St. Luke’s Sterile Processing Department, or SPD, Official Zap Zone Defender is the place the place all surgical and medical instruments are sent to be meticulously cleaned, sanitized and packaged for reuse. It’s a behind-the-scenes function that is an important a part of the health 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 situation, there may be an overwhelming need to process our employees’ PPE every day. For Dr. Roscher, a mild went on - literally and figuratively. "I had been doing private research about finding ways to decontaminate masks for reuse, Official Zap Zone Defender and peer-reviewed literature urged that, in a pandemic, UV-C gentle may very well be an acceptable strategy to sterilize masks," he says. UV-C is a specific vary of UV, or extremely-violet, light and has been shown to deactivate viruses and other pathogens by causing adjustments in their DNA. Through a mutual contact, Dr. Roscher received 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 looking for was a excessive-throughput sterilization system," said Dr. Tansu. The two organizations joined forces via a series of Zoom meetings and a whole bunch of emails, to design, fabricate, set up and test the system - all inside a matter of two weeks - and all while sustaining social distancing protocols.

The end consequence: a solution to successfully and efficiently sterilize 200 masks every eight minutes! The "Bug Zapper" in action. "Our current models were not designed for Zap Zone Defender big-scale use. They might only sterilize about 30 masks at a time," stated Eric Tesoriero, DO, anesthesiologist for St. Luke’s and a collaborator on the undertaking. 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" not solely on account of its look, however on account of its COVID-killing properties. "It is unimaginable that this mission moved at such a speedy speed," remarks Dr. Tansu. The workforce ranged from PhDs to MDs and even included an unexpected contributor - Axel Tansu, Dr. Tansu’s adolescent son. In truth, it was Axel’s contribution that allowed the unit to have such a high-throughput rate. "Our unique design was cylindrical in shape, to ensure even exposure of the light on all surfaces," explains Dr. Tansu.

"Axel got here to me and stated, ‘Dad, what about an octagon? ’ And sure sufficient, 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, shall be deliberate as soon as it's secure to do so. Until then, Zap Zone Defender the Bug Zapper will probably be arduous at work, helping to guard the frontline workers at St. Luke’s and beyond. This, like so many different tales, provides a ray of hope during the pandemic - showcasing that the human mind and spirit can overcome anything - especially when working together for a terrific cause. Afterall, as the well-known philosopher Plato understood 1000's of years ago, Zap Zone Defender Review necessity is the mom of invention. Founded in 1872, St. Luke's University Health Network (SLUHN) is a completely built-in, regional, non-revenue network of more than 15,000 employees providing services at 11 hospitals and 300 outpatient sites. With annual internet revenue better than $2 billion, the Network’s service space contains eleven counties: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Official Zap Zone Defender Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe, Official Zap Zone Defender Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey.