Bug Zapper Kills COVID-19 Virus

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St. Luke’s, Lehigh University collaboration results in clever, life-saving invention. BETHLEHEM, PA. - Among stories of hope, generosity and togetherness, 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 entrance-line organizations jumped to secure massive portions of life-saving supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE), there has additionally been the need to determine faster, more environment friendly methods to scrub and sterilize those objects, particularly the coveted N95 masks. St. Luke’s University Health Network anesthesiologist, Christopher Roscher, MD, anticipated the need and an thought began to form. "It turned clear that PPE supplies would turn into restricted because the virus progressed," he says. The St. Luke’s Sterile Processing Department, or SPD, is the place where all surgical and medical instruments are despatched to be meticulously cleaned, sanitized and packaged for reuse. It’s a behind-the-scenes operate that is an essential a part of the well being care system. "On any given day, we're processing many, many items right 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 have to process our employees’ PPE on a daily basis. For Dr. Roscher, a gentle went on - literally and figuratively. "I had been doing personal research about discovering methods to decontaminate masks for reuse, and peer-reviewed literature advised that, in a pandemic, UV-C gentle may very well be an appropriate 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 different pathogens by causing changes of their DNA. Through a mutual contact, Dr. Roscher bought 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 looking for buy Zappify Bug Zapper was a high-throughput sterilization system," mentioned Dr. Tansu. The two organizations joined forces via a sequence of Zoom meetings and a whole bunch of emails, to design, fabricate, set up and test the system - all within a matter of two weeks - and all while maintaining social distancing protocols.



The end consequence: a strategy to effectively and effectively sterilize 200 masks each eight minutes! The "Bug insect zapper" in motion. "Our current units weren't designed for large-scale use. They could only sterilize about 30 masks at a time," acknowledged 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 "buy Zappify Bug Zapper Zapper" not solely as a result of its appearance, however because of its COVID-killing properties. "It is unbelievable that this undertaking moved at such a rapid 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 price. "Our authentic design was cylindrical in shape, to make sure even publicity of the sunshine on all surfaces," explains Dr. Tansu.



"Axel got here to me and stated, ‘Dad, what about an octagon? ’ And positive 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-particular person, will be planned as soon as it is secure to do so. Until then, the Bug Zapper shall be exhausting at work, serving to to protect the frontline staff at St. Luke’s and beyond. This, like so many other tales, provides a ray of hope through the pandemic - showcasing that the human mind and spirit can overcome anything - particularly when working collectively for an excellent trigger. Afterall, because the well-known philosopher Plato understood thousands of years in the past, necessity is the mother of invention. Founded in 1872, St. Luke's University Health Network (SLUHN) is a totally built-in, regional, non-revenue network of more than 15,000 workers offering services at 11 hospitals and 300 outpatient sites. With annual web income larger than $2 billion, the Network’s service space contains eleven counties: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, rechargeable bug zapper Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey.