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 unimaginable feat of ingenuity - the invention of the "bug zapper for backyard Zapper" to sterilize masks. As hospitals and other entrance-line organizations jumped to secure massive quantities of life-saving supplies and private protective gear (PPE), there has additionally been the necessity to establish faster, extra efficient methods to scrub 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 started to form. "It turned clear that PPE provides would turn out to be limited 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 operate that is a necessary part of the well being care system. "On any given day, we are processing many, many objects here at our hospital in Bethlehem," states Taylor Bennett, St. Luke’s Network Director of Sterile Processing.

"But with the current state of affairs, there may be an overwhelming need to process our employees’ PPE every day. For Dr. Roscher, a gentle went on - actually and figuratively. "I had been doing private research about finding methods to decontaminate masks for reuse, and peer-reviewed literature recommended that, in a pandemic, UV-C mild may very well be an acceptable strategy to sterilize masks," he says. UV-C is a specific vary of UV, or ultra-violet, mild and has been shown 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 high-throughput sterilization system," said Dr. Tansu. The 2 organizations joined forces through a series of Zoom meetings and a whole lot of emails, to design, fabricate, set up and test the device - all within a matter of two weeks - and all while sustaining social distancing protocols.

The top end result: a solution to successfully and efficiently sterilize 200 masks every eight minutes! The "bug zapper for backyard Zapper" in motion. "Our present models weren't designed for giant-scale use. They could only sterilize about 30 masks at a time," said 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 Zapper" not only resulting from its appearance, but on account of its COVID-killing properties. "It is unimaginable that this mission moved at such a rapid velocity," remarks Dr. Tansu. The group ranged from PhDs to MDs and even included an unexpected contributor - Axel Tansu, Dr. Tansu’s adolescent son. In reality, it was Axel’s contribution that allowed the unit to have such a high-throughput charge. "Our unique design was cylindrical in shape, to make sure even publicity of the light on all surfaces," explains Dr. Tansu.

"Axel got here to me and Zappify Bug Zapper stated, Zappify Bug Zapper ‘Dad, what about an octagon? ’ And positive sufficient, he was proper. A patent to guard the team’s intellectual design has been filed. And a celebration for the collaborators to satisfy, in-particular person, shall be deliberate as soon as it is safe to do so. Until then, the bug zapper for backyard Zapper will be hard at work, helping to guard the frontline employees at St. Luke’s and past. This, like so many different stories, affords a ray of hope through the pandemic - showcasing that the human mind and spirit can overcome something - particularly when working together for a terrific cause. Afterall, Zappify Bug Zapper as the well-known philosopher Plato understood thousands of years ago, necessity is the mom of invention. Founded in 1872, St. Luke's University Health Network (SLUHN) is a fully built-in, regional, non-profit 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 area includes 11 counties: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey.