Carolyn Elya, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor in Molecular and Cellular Biology Zombiologist in Chief
Carolyn received her Ph.D. in 2017 from UC Berkeley (go bears!) working with Dr. Michael Eisen where she accidentally discovered zombies in her backyard. She developed the zombie fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster-Entomophthora muscae) lab system based on this encounter, and brought it with her to Dr. Benjamin de Bivort’s group at Harvard University where she completed her postdoc investigating the neuromechanistic basis of zombie behaviors. As the head of her own lab, Carolyn is thrilled to dive even deeper into the zombie fruit fly system to explore all things behavior manipulation.
Diana Redlund
Faculty Assistant
Diana is our in-house administrative, logistics, and ordering ninja.
Jolie Chan
Visiting Undergraduate Researcher
Jolie completed an internship with the Elya lab through Cambridge Rindge and Latin School in 2025. She is back for summer 2026 to investigate the role of juvenile hormone during summiting.
Aslan Cook
Technician
Aslan received her B.S. in Biology from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2023. She is interested cell biology questions in fun organismal systems and has worked with butterflies, tardigrades, snails, frogs, and now, fungi and flies! In the Elya lab, she’s looking at ways flies might resist E. muscae infection. Outside lab, she’s a casual crafter and can be found cutting up old clothes and crocheting things she doesn’t need.
Caris Eaton
Undergraduate Researcher
Caris is a rising senior in the college studying Molecular and Cellular Biology and Sociology. They are interested in the morphology of E. muscae and are working on a couple projects to 1) investigate how fly biomolecules induce fungal germination and 2) characterize E. muscae morphology throughout its life cycle.
Brandon Fricker, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Researcher
Brandon received his Ph.D. from Emory University in 2024 working with Dr. Aubrey Kelly on the neural circuits driving social behaviors in the cooperatively breeding spiny mice (Acomys cahirinus). He is broadly interested in how the activity of individual neurons produce specific, complex, and often stereotyped behaviors. In the Elya Lab, Brandon is interested in a variety of projects, including how E. muscae manipulates fruit fly neural activity to produce summitting behavior and how circadian rhythms may be perturbed during infection.
Charlie Heacock
Graduate Student (MCO)
Charlie is a rising second year MCO graduate student. Charlie received her undergraduate degrees in Behavioral Neuroscience & Marine Biology from Northeastern University then worked as technician for the first year and a half of the Elya lab. Charlie has her sights set on figuring out why flies extend their proboscides at E. muscae‘s behest, and how they wind up glued in place.
Adina Lippman
Undergraduate Researcher
Adina is a Molecular and Cellular Biology concentrator and rising senior. Her work in the lab centers on developing transgenic strategies in E. muscae.
Maya Leonard
Postbac Researcher
Maya received her B.Sc. degrees in Neuroscience & Cognitive Science and Molecular & Cellular Biology (MCB) from the University of Arizona and is currently pursuing her accelerated master’s in MCB at UofA. For her master’s, she is engineering imaginal disc transplantation methods in Drosophila larvae to study immune self-recognition, while she has broader passionate interests in host-parasite immunology and behavior manipulations! Maya has worked with behavior-altering parasitoid wasps, Toxoplasma gondii (briefly), and now her favorite parasite: E. muscae! In Elya Lab, Maya is collaborating with Jessenia on the Zombuddies project and is currently running independent projects on wing raising and entomophthovirus. Outside of the lab, she loves drawing dragons, reading, playing video games with her friends, going to museums, and engaging in science philosophy!
Hanan Noushad
Graduate Student (MCO)
Hanan is a rising second year graduate student in the MCO program interested in understanding how brains work. Hanan earned a dual degree from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Berhampur before spending a year in the Otopalik lab at Janelia Research Campus. In the Elya lab, she will be learning how the expert neuroscientist E. muscae manipulates neural circuits of the fruit fly host.
Gaby Paniccia
Postdoctoral Researcher
Gaby received her Ph.D from the Rockefeller University in 2024 working in the lab of Dr. Charles Rice to understand a novel antiviral activity of phospholipid scramblase 1 (PLSCR1) against SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic. She is broadly interested in host-pathogen interaction, not only between the fly and E. muscae, but also between E. muscae and the viruses that infect it. In the Elya lab, she is interested in developing methods for genetically manipulating the fungus to enable broader study of the genetic underpinnings of its pathogenesis.
Caroline Song
Undergraduate Researcher
Caroline is a rising sophomore and prospective concentrator in Chemical and Physical Biology. She is currently investigating why flies fail to get infected in the dark.
Julius Tabin
Graduate Student (OEB)
Julius is a graduate student in the Organismic and Evolutionary Biology department, broadly interested in behavioral genetics. In the past, he has studied a variety of organisms, including cavefish, zebrafish, catsharks, gars, skates, big cats, and deer mice. He is currently working on understanding the molecular and mechanistic basis of E. muscae induced summiting behavior. Julius is also trained in Egyptology and, in his free time, continues to research the morphology of ancient Egyptian hieratic. 𓋴𓐠𓄿𓎛𓃃𓂻𓃭𓏤𓆷𓄿𓇋𓏲𓁶!
Leslie Torres-Ulloa, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Researcher
Leslie earned her Ph.D. in 2024 from UMass Chan Medical School in the lab of Athma Pai. She is interested in understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms that control important life-stage transitions in E. muscae’s time within the fly, from a systems genetics perspective. Her work in the Elya lab focuses on elucidating the gene networks that drive cell-wall reconstruction in the zombie fungus in preparation for exit from the zombie fly, and characterizing the molecular mechanisms that constrain death to the twilight hours of the day.
Kevin Wang
Undergraduate Researcher
Kevin is a rising sophomore and prospective concentrator in MCB. He is working with Team Transgenics to establish genetic tools in E. muscae.
Šimon Weiser
Undergraduate Researcher
Šimon is a Neuroscience concentrator and rising senior. He is interested in how brains produce behaviors, and is using multicolor flip-out and immunohistochemistry to map PI-CA neurons, a population of neurosecretory cells crucial for E. muscae-driven summiting, back to the Drosophila connectome. When he’s not taking pretty pictures of brains, Šimon represents Harvard College running Track and Field.
Jessenia Yupangui Yupa
RSI Post-Baccalaureate Scholar
Jessenia earned her B.A. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from Princeton University in 2024. In the Elya lab, she is investigating the causal link between fungal invasion of the brain and behavior and the driving force behind our Zombuddies project.
Future members
Grad students: Our primary affiliation will be with the MCO graduate program, but we are happy to consider any students within the HILS alliance.
Undergraduates: Send Carolyn an email with your CV as well as and why you’re interested in the lab.
Summer students: There are several mechanisms to pursue summer research at Harvard. Send Carolyn an email with your CV and why you’re interested in the lab. Please also indicate which programs (at Harvard or elsewhere) would be appropriate to support your work. Keep in mind summer programs have early deadlines – reach out before March for best results.
Alumni
Technicians
Charlie Heacock (2024-2025; now in Harvard MCO graduate program)
Rina Sotiropoulou (2024-2025; now in Harvard MCO graduate program)
Harvard Undergraduates:
Lucy Hurlbut (IB ’25)
Andres Muedano Sosa (Phil ’27)
Haesung Jee (IB ’24)
Summer students
Shannon Kemp (UCSD ’27)
Kevin Ye (Pomona College ’27)
America Cox (University of Utah ’25)
Interns
Onyx Hopwood (CRLS ’26)
Jolie Chan (CRLS ’25)
Hunter Guarnaschelli (Northeastern ’25)