2025 Chi-Bin Chien Award Winner: Victoria Deneke, PhD

Victoria Deneke, PhD
Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP Vienna)
Vienna, Austria

Award Lecture - The Key to Life: How the SPARK Complex Unlocks Vertebrate Fertilization

Victoria is a Research Associate in the laboratory of Andrea Pauli at IMP Vienna, Austria. She received her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame. Following her undergraduate degree, she pursued a PhD degree in Cell Biology at Duke University, where she investigated the synchronization of nuclear cycles in early Drosophila embryogenesis in the laboratory of Stefano Di Talia. In 2019, she joined the laboratory of Andrea Pauli as a postdoctoral researcher and has been studying the molecular mechanisms of vertebrate fertilization using zebrafish. In addition to her research, Victoria is passionate about scientific outreach and science communication and helped inaugurate the Talents-For-Future program at the Vienna Biocenter.

 

 

 

The Key to Life: How the SPARK Complex Unlocks Vertebrate Fertilization

Awarded at the European Zebrafish Meeting - July, 2026

 

The Chi-Bin Chien Award was established by the zebrafish research community and the International Zebrafish Society (IZFS) in memory of Dr. Chi-Bin Chien. The award recognizes outstanding graduate students, postdoctoral trainees, or recently appointed faculty members from any country who have made significant contributions to the field of zebrafish research and have exhibited the generosity and openness that characterized and motivated Chi-Bin Chien. Read more about the CBC Award and its past recipients here.