Operation Warp Speed

Scientist to Scientist Podcast

Scientist to Scientist

As the US federal program known as “Operation Warp Speed” officially launched in May 2020 to facilitate the development of COVID-19 vaccines and other therapeutics, many CROs entered the race against the disease. Listen to Karlton Moore exclusive interview with Weston Auchmoody, automation specialist at PPD at the time, as he described how Artel instruments helped him and his team scale up their operations, circumvent supply chain issues, and decrease their instruments down time to ensure the vaccine got out in record time.


About Weston Auchmoody

Weston AuchmoodyWeston has 4 years of vaccine clinical research and operations experience at PPD Labs, now part of Thermo Fisher Scientific.  Throughout his time at PPD in the Liquid Handling Automation Group, he was involved in the success of several studies including Operation Warp Speed.  In addition to his automation experience, he managed the expansion of our laboratories into a new building, resolved supply chain issues by building effective and strong relationships with vendors, built cross-functional relationships across the company to ensure business continuity and success for the laboratories. Weston graduated in 2018 with his Bachelor’s Degree in Molecular Biology from Christopher Newport University, and in 2022 with his MBA from Virginia Commonwealth University. He currently works in tobacco harm reduction under the Regulatory Affairs group at Altria.


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