Nikki Sasher, Manager of Environmental Bioanalytics for AAF International – Interview Series

Since the cannabis industry is so heavily regulated and products are third-party lab tested for all types of dangerous molds and other particles, cultivators understandably need to prioritize having the most effective air filtration systems possible. Luckily, there are scientists with ample levels of diverse experience creating those exact filtration systems. One such scientist is Nikki Sasher, Manager of Environmental Bioanalytics for AAF International.

What were the most useful or otherwise interesting subjects in microbiology that you studied while at Middle Tennessee State University?

The most interesting to me was Parasitology, but the most useful to me has been my Food and Industrial and Environmental Microbiology emphasis. That’s something I’ve carried with me through my career. I fell in love with it and I’ve been able to really apply it and adapt it to other test capabilities. If I need to develop a test, I’m able to write a paper. I’ve been able to apply all that I learned to adapt it to anything.

What all went into your Master of Science program for Food Science at Kansas State? How did studying in a state such as Kansas, with such a strong agricultural state, influence the effectiveness of the program and your studies? 

My Master’s program was through the Food Science Institute, which is a subset of the College of Agriculture. I think that was the theme all around with Kansas State. They’re very rooted in agriculture and my emphasis was food microbiology, food safety and defense. I was in the bourbon industry, so I geared a lot towards fermentation science and cereal/grain science. 

What courses from your educational background do you feel like provided you with an advantage in the various QA/microbiology roles that you’ve held?

Definitely the food, industrial and environmental microbiology and fermentation sciences. Once you start to conceptually understand the science, you can apply it and adapt it to anything. With food science, it’s heavily quality based anyway, understanding hazard analysis, risk points and mitigating risks.

The Southerner in me has a million questions about working for Jack Daniel’s, but I’ll keep it to just one or two. How did you ensure that all production processes were both clean and compliant with all state regulations?

 The Tobacco and Trade Bureau regulates those processes, but they regulate the new made whiskey that comes out of the still more than the quality processes that go into it. So my role in quality in bourbon at Jack Daniel’s and other distilleries was applying what I knew about fermentation science and food microbiology, such as with yeast. Being able to give yeast the environmental advantages over bacteria so they can out-compete and the fermentation and yield go well. I also verified their cleaning protocols and they use 40 to 90,000 gallon fermenters.  

I actually started there when I was in my last year of undergrad at Middle Tennessee, so I was able to be a quality technician there. And my mentor there really opened my head up and he really poured 30 years of bourbon information into my head and the learning curve was steep but I loved it.   

What caught your professional attention about working for AAF, and how do you feel your experience working in QA for alcohol companies was relevant to your current role?

I had been in the alcohol industry for 6 or 7 years. I left Jack Daniel’s to move to Louisville to be with the parent company of Jack Daniel’s. I was a microbiologist there for 3 years and that’s when I started on my Food Science Master’s. Then I left there in 2016, hung up my lab coat for a hard hat and started a greenfield operation with Diageo, which was the Bulleit distillery. 

That was a great opportunity for me to do a greenfield startup. At Jack Daniel’s, my mentor told me that I would get pidgeonholed if I didn’t get another title from another industry. I always kept that in the back of my head and after 7 years, I was still a quality technician even though I had a Master’s. I took that advice and saw the position open for Lab Manager at AAF. I didn’t know anything about filtration at all at the time but I took a chance on it since it looked interesting. When I came in for the interview and asked why I wanted this job, I told them I wanted something I couldn’t outcompete and I need something that will keep me busy. They saw my career progression was fast and knew I was able to take on the task. 

Speaking of which, what are some of your regular duties as Manager of Environmental Bioanalytics?

I manage a team and my duties are to make sure the lab runs smoothly, to really be the gatekeeper a lot of times for people to be able to submit things to the company for testing or to help solve a problem. They have concerns about mold and viruses if they’re in a hospital. If they’re a data center, their concerns are around carbon and filtering out the gases.

I’m also on an ISO standard committee, so I contribute to that methodology and the methods we’re developing. I also design custom research projects for mold and bacterias for molecular and traditional testing capabilities. So I oversee making sure that the tests are designed and carried through.”

What are some industries that AAF has commonly worked with, and since the company operates in 22 countries and counting, where are some interesting locations that AAF systems are located in? 

We work with every industry. Healthcare, pharmaceutical, data centers, schools, convention centers. Anywhere that has any kind of indoor air quality concern. I come in if there’s an area where they’re concerned about any kind of biological aerosol. Research test labs, pharmaceutical manufacturers. We have a large presence in agriculture and animal husbandry. We have systems located in Europe and Asia and I work with global clients.

How can agricultural and cannabis companies specifically control the environment with AAF’s systems to guarantee the best possible growing conditions?

So my role there is to be able to provide our customers with the highest efficiency filter with the most cost effectiveness and high quality. So they may not have to change out the filters as often as they normally would. 

We’re still pretty new at understanding this industry, but what we would be able to do would be to implement these standardized protocols as we begin to understand the industry better. 

The higher the MERV (minimum efficiency rating value) is, the higher the removal efficiency is. Some of the facilities that we’ve been in so far that we’ve toured to understand what they’re using, the MERV rating goes from really low all the way up to HEPA. A lot of the places we’ve visited so far were using low MERV rating filters, so what we’d recommend is going to MERV 13 or higher. 

During the pandemic, businesses wanted to know if our filters work against COVID. I was able to do a surrogate test and generated data on all our filters about coronavirus. I wanted to know its size and structure and how it behaves in aerosol and it got a lot of global recognition. What it proved was that filtration is an effective engineering control, so long as the air gets in the air handling system.

How can cannabis cultivation facilities, in particular, benefit from robust air filtration systems such as AAF’s products? How would a good filtration system improve the quality of their crops?

They would benefit from a good filtration system by having a better quality filter and energy cost savings and a higher MERV rating to offer more protection. It’s all about the risk mitigation and protecting their crops from aspergilis and molds. They would also benefit from less air flow resistance and pressure so it’s a more efficient filter all around.

I’m putting out a call for filters to the industry to send me their filters, I’ll test them for free and see where they are, see what their mold removal efficiency is. We have a lot of tools available to us to let them know what’s going into their room and hopefully help them get a 0 percent fail rate on their lab tests.   

How does AAF plan on working with cannabis companies in the future?

We want to understand cannabis manufacturers’ processes so we can partner with them and help them have customized solutions. We want to determine and figure out what they need for their process and customize the products to help them with whatever their biggest issues are. 

Thank you for joining us, Nikki! For more information on AAF’s products, please visit its webisite.