Bug Zapper Kills COVID-19 Virus

St. Luke’s, bug zapper sale Lehigh University collaboration results in intelligent, life-saving invention. BETHLEHEM, PA. - Among tales 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 different entrance-line organizations jumped to safe massive quantities of life-saving supplies and private protective gear (PPE), there has additionally been the necessity to determine quicker, more efficient methods to scrub and sterilize these objects, significantly the coveted N95 masks. St. Luke’s University Health Network anesthesiologist, Christopher Roscher, MD, anticipated the need and an idea began to type. "It became clear that PPE supplies would become restricted because the virus progressed," he says. The St. Luke’s Sterile Processing Department, or SPD, is the place the place all surgical and medical devices are sent to be meticulously cleaned, sanitized and packaged for reuse. It’s a behind-the-scenes function that's an important part of the well being 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 present state of affairs, there may be an overwhelming must process our employees’ PPE on a daily basis. For Dr. Roscher, a gentle went on - actually and figuratively. "I had been doing private research about finding ways to decontaminate masks for reuse, and peer-reviewed literature urged that, in a pandemic, UV bug zapper-C gentle could be an appropriate strategy to sterilize masks," he says. UV-C is a specific vary of UV, or ultra-violet, mild and has been proven to deactivate viruses and other pathogens by inflicting modifications 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," said Dr. Tansu. The 2 organizations joined forces by a series of Zoom meetings and hundreds of emails, to design, fabricate, install and check the device - all inside a matter of two weeks - and all while sustaining social distancing protocols.

The tip outcome: a option to successfully and effectively sterilize 200 masks every eight minutes! The "Bug Zapper" in motion. "Our existing items were not designed for giant-scale use. They might solely sterilize about 30 masks at a time," stated Eric Tesoriero, DO, anesthesiologist for St. Luke’s and a collaborator on the project. The unit, engineered by Lehigh students and employees and assembled at St. Luke’s by biomedical engineer Jay Johnson, has been affectionally named the "Zappify Bug Zapper shop Zapper" not solely as a result of its look, however as a result of its COVID-killing properties. "It is unbelievable that this challenge moved at such a fast speed," remarks Dr. Tansu. The team ranged from PhDs to MDs and even included an unexpected contributor - Axel Tansu, Dr. Tansu’s adolescent son. In fact, it was Axel’s contribution that allowed the unit to have such a high-throughput price. "Our original design was cylindrical in form, Zappify Bug Zapper shop to ensure even exposure 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 intellectual design has been filed. And a celebration for the collaborators to satisfy, in-particular person, might be deliberate as soon as it's safe to do so. Until then, the Bug Zapper shall be arduous at work, helping to protect the frontline workers at St. Luke’s and past. This, like so many different stories, presents a ray of hope during the pandemic - showcasing that the human thoughts and spirit can overcome something - particularly when working together for an awesome cause. Afterall, as the famous philosopher Plato understood hundreds of years in the past, necessity is the mom of invention. Founded in 1872, St. Luke's University Health Network (SLUHN) is a completely built-in, regional, non-profit network of more than 15,000 employees offering providers at eleven hospitals and 300 outpatient websites. With annual web revenue greater than $2 billion, the Network’s service area consists of 11 counties: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey.