# Carolyn Elya Assistant Professor ![smiling woman with brown hair and glasses in front of greenery](/sites/g/files/omnuum5476/files/styles/hwp_4_5__480x600/public/2026-01/carolyn-elya_inset.jpg?itok=lLrBopfk) location\_on 3027 Biological Laboratories, 16 Divinity Ave, Cambridge, MA 02138 email laptop\_windows [Lab Website](https://carolynelya.com/) laptop\_windows [Publications](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Elya+C&cauthor_id=30047862) The Elya lab focuses on unraveling the mechanisms by which parasitic fungi manipulate animal behavior, using the lab-tractable "zombie fly" model system (Drosophila melanogaster infected with the fungal parasite Entomophthora muscae). Zombie flies flies exhibit dramatic behavioral changes before: they climb to elevated positions ("summit disease"), extend their proboscis and get glued in situ by fungal structures, then raise their wings up and away from their back. This eerie behavioral sequence serves to ideally position dying flies for imminent fungal dispersal. The Elya lab aims to understand these processes from the molecular to the neural circuit level, integrating behavioral analysis, genetics, molecular biology, neurobiology, and microbiology to address fundamental questions in host-pathogen interactions and behavioral control. - ## Location [Harvard University](/location/harvard-university-0) - ## Research Interests [Neuropathology & Disease](/research-interests/neuropathology-disease) [Systems & Integrative Neuroscience](/research-interests/systems-integrative-neuroscience) - ## Research Techniques [Behavioral](/research-technique/behavioral) [Computational](/research-technique/computational) [Imaging (microscopic and/or functional)](/research-technique/imaging-microscopic-andor-functional) [Molecular Biological and Genetic](/research-technique/molecular-biological-and-genetic) [Non-Mammalian Systems](/research-technique/non-mammalian-systems) - ## People [Faculty](/people/faculty)