Fikri
Birey

Dr. Fikri Birey is an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Human Genetics and Pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine, where he directs the Birey Lab and co-directs the Emory Brain Organoid Hub. His research focuses on understanding how human brain circuits assemble and function during development, and how these processes go awry in neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders. To address these questions, his laboratory leverages human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived brain organoids and assembloids—three-dimensional models that recapitulate key features of specific brain regions and their interactions—combined with functional genomics, calcium imaging, and emerging therapeutic modalities such as antisense oligonucleotides and prime editing. Dr. Birey completed his doctoral training at Stony Brook University and his postdoctoral training at Stanford University, where he co-developed the forebrain assembloid platform now widely used in the field.