Life sciences instrumentation veteran with senior leadership experience joins Cellply to lead the next phase of global growth
BOLOGNA, Italy — September 11, 2026 — Cellply, a pioneer in deep functional cell analysis, today announced the appointment of Dr. Alex Jones as Chief Executive Officer, effective August 1, 2026. Dr. Jones brings nearly two decades of leadership experience in cell-based analysis and life sciences instrumentation, including C‑suite roles at Cellular Highways and Nanolive and two successful company exits. He most recently served as CEO of Cellular Highways, the Cambridge-based cell sorting company acquired by STEMCELL Technologies in June 2025.
Dr. Jones succeeds Alessia Zanelli, President and CEO, who continues to serve as President. He joins a leadership team that includes Co‑Founder Massimo Bocchi as Chief Operating Officer.
“Alex’s deep understanding of the cell analysis instrumentation market and his track record of taking analytical platforms from early commercial traction to global scale will be invaluable as Cellply expands the reach of VivaCyte® among biopharma and ATMP developers worldwide,” said Massimo Bocchi, Co‑Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Cellply.
“I’m excited to join Cellply at such a pivotal moment for the company, building on the strength of the VivaCyte® platform and the team’s deep scientific expertise. Cellply brings true analytical innovation to discovery and manufacturing of the next generation of therapies that will benefit untold patients,” said Alex Jones, CEO of Cellply.
Cellply’s long-term ambition is to be the global leader in analytical tools for research and quality control within the cell therapy and regenerative medicine sectors. As the industry advances toward increasingly complex and personalized medicines, robust and standardized functional assays will become fundamental to enable scalability, sustainability, and broader patient access.
About Dr. Alex Jones
Dr. Alex Jones holds a PhD from Bangor University and has spent his career in life sciences instrumentation. Before joining Cellply, he was Chief Executive Officer of Cellular Highways, where he led the commercial launch of the Highway1 cell sorter and steered the company through its acquisition by STEMCELL Technologies in 2025. He previously served as Chief Commercial Officer at Nanolive, developer of the 3D Cell Explorer. Earlier in his career, he led the EMEA commercial expansion of Essen BioScience, developer of the IncuCyte platform, in the years leading up to its acquisition by Sartorius.
About Cellply
Cellply is a biology-focused deep tech company developing tools to unravel the complexity of the immune system and enable rapid development of new immunotherapies and cell-based therapies with enhanced potency and persistence. Headquartered in Bologna, Italy, the team is creating state-of-the-art analytical solutions capable of robustly characterizing these exciting therapeutic modalities at single-cell resolution. Cellply has combined patented microfluidic technology and AI-powered automated image analysis capability with comprehensive automation and dedicated software to create its flagship product, VivaCyte®.
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