Bug Zapper Kills COVID-19 Virus

St. Luke’s, Lehigh University collaboration leads to intelligent, chemical-free bug control life-saving invention. BETHLEHEM, PA. - Among tales of hope, generosity and mosquito zapper togetherness, the COVID-19 pandemic has also given rise to an unimaginable feat of ingenuity - the invention of the "chemical-free bug control Zapper" to sterilize masks. As hospitals and different entrance-line organizations jumped to safe giant quantities of life-saving supplies and private protecting equipment (PPE), there has also been the need to identify quicker, more environment friendly methods to clean and sterilize those gadgets, particularly the coveted N95 masks. St. Luke’s University Health Network anesthesiologist, Christopher Roscher, MD, anticipated the necessity and an concept began to kind. "It became clear that PPE supplies would grow to be restricted because the virus progressed," he says. The St. Luke’s Sterile Processing Department, or SPD, is the place where all surgical and medical devices are sent 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 items here at our hospital in Bethlehem," states Taylor Bennett, Zap Zone Defender St. Luke’s Network Director of Sterile Processing.



"But with the present scenario, there is an overwhelming need to process our employees’ PPE on a daily basis. For Dr. Roscher, a gentle went on - literally and figuratively. "I had been doing private research about finding methods to decontaminate masks for reuse, and peer-reviewed literature suggested that, in a pandemic, UV-C gentle might be a suitable technique to sterilize masks," he says. UV-C is a selected vary of UV, or extremely-violet, light and has been proven to deactivate viruses and other pathogens by inflicting modifications in their DNA. Through a mutual contact, Dr. Roscher got 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 searching for was a high-throughput sterilization system," said Dr. Tansu. The 2 organizations joined forces by means of a series of Zoom conferences and a whole lot of emails, to design, fabricate, set up and take a look at the system - all within a matter of two weeks - and all whereas maintaining social distancing protocols.



The end result: a technique to effectively and efficiently sterilize 200 masks every 8 minutes! The "Bug Zapper" in motion. "Our present models were not 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 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 because of its look, but as a result of its COVID-killing properties. "It is unbelievable that this project moved at such a rapid pace," remarks Dr. Tansu. The crew 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 excessive-throughput price. "Our original design was cylindrical in shape, to make sure even publicity of the sunshine on all surfaces," explains Dr. Tansu.



"Axel came to me and said, ‘Dad, what about an octagon? ’ And certain enough, he was right. A patent to protect the team’s intellectual design has been filed. And a celebration for Zap Zone Defender Experience the collaborators to fulfill, in-individual, can be planned as soon as it is protected to do so. Until then, pest control the Bug Zapper shall be onerous at work, helping to protect the frontline workers at St. Luke’s and patio insect zapper beyond. This, like so many different tales, provides a ray of hope in the course of the pandemic - showcasing that the human mind and spirit can overcome anything - especially when working together for a great trigger. Afterall, because the famous philosopher Plato understood hundreds of years ago, necessity is the mother of invention. Founded in 1872, St. Luke's University Health Network (SLUHN) is a fully built-in, regional, non-revenue network of more than 15,000 workers offering services at 11 hospitals and 300 outpatient websites. With annual net income higher than $2 billion, the Network’s service area consists of eleven counties: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey.