Bug Zapper Kills COVID-19 Virus

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St. Luke’s, Zap Zone Defender Lehigh University collaboration results in clever, life-saving invention. BETHLEHEM, PA. - Among tales of hope, generosity and togetherness, the COVID-19 pandemic has additionally given rise to an unbelievable feat of ingenuity - the invention of the "Bug Zapper" to sterilize masks. As hospitals and different front-line organizations jumped to safe giant quantities of life-saving provides and personal protective equipment (PPE), Zap Zone Defender there has additionally been the need to establish faster, Zap Zone Defender Experience more environment friendly ways to wash and sterilize these 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 turn out to be restricted because the virus progressed," he says. The St. Luke’s Sterile Processing Department, patio insect zapper or SPD, is the place where all surgical and Zap Zone Defender Experience medical devices are despatched to be meticulously cleaned, sanitized and packaged for reuse. It’s a behind-the-scenes perform that is an essential a part of the well being care system. "On any given day, we are processing many, many gadgets right here at our hospital in Bethlehem," states Taylor Bennett, St. Luke’s Network Director of Sterile Processing.



"But with the present state of affairs, there's an overwhelming have to course of our employees’ PPE every day. For Dr. Roscher, a mild went on - literally and figuratively. "I had been doing non-public analysis about finding methods to decontaminate masks for reuse, Zap Zone Defender Experience and peer-reviewed literature prompt that, in a pandemic, UV-C light might be a suitable technique to sterilize masks," he says. UV-C is a selected range of UV, or extremely-violet, mild and has been proven to deactivate viruses and other pathogens by causing modifications in their DNA. Through a mutual contact, Dr. Roscher got 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 in search of was a excessive-throughput sterilization system," mentioned Dr. Tansu. The two organizations joined forces via a series of Zoom conferences and lots of of emails, to design, fabricate, set up and take a look at the machine - all inside a matter of two weeks - and all while sustaining social distancing protocols.



The tip outcome: a approach to successfully and efficiently sterilize 200 masks each 8 minutes! The "Bug Zapper" in motion. "Our current models were not designed for Zap Zone Defender Experience giant-scale use. They might only sterilize about 30 masks at a time," acknowledged Eric Tesoriero, DO, anesthesiologist for St. Luke’s and a collaborator on the undertaking. The unit, engineered by Lehigh college students and workers and assembled at St. Luke’s by biomedical engineer Jay Johnson, has been affectionally named the "Bug Zapper" not solely as a result of its look, but on account of its COVID-killing properties. "It is incredible that this mission moved at such a fast pace," 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 charge. "Our original 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 said, ‘Dad, what about an octagon? ’ And sure enough, he was right. A patent to guard the team’s mental design has been filed. And a celebration for the collaborators to meet, in-individual, Zap Zone Defender will probably be deliberate once it is safe to take action. Until then, the Bug Zapper will probably be hard at work, helping to guard the frontline employees at St. Luke’s and beyond. This, like so many other stories, affords a ray of hope through the pandemic - showcasing that the human thoughts and spirit can overcome anything - especially when working collectively for an excellent trigger. Afterall, as the famous philosopher Plato understood thousands of years ago, necessity is the mother of invention. Founded in 1872, Zap Zone Defender Experience St. Luke's University Health Network (SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-revenue community of more than 15,000 staff providing services at eleven hospitals and 300 outpatient sites. With annual internet income higher than $2 billion, the Network’s service area contains eleven counties: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Zap Zone Defender Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe, Zap Zone Defender Experience Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey.