Dr Viegas received her first postdoctoral fellowship grant in the cardiovascular research field in October 2010 included in an FCT project grant (2010–2013) of €130 000 to study theestablishment of gamma-carboxyglutamic acid-rich protein (GRP) as a biomarker for vascular calcification. This was followed by an individual postdoctoral fellowship grant in October 2011 which covers the same research area and will be renewed annually until August 2015. After revealing the peculiar features of this new vitamin K-dependent protein during her PhD, Dr Viegas’ research in the Functional Biochemistry and Proteomics group has greatly benefited from a close collaboration established with Dr Cees Vermeer, PhD, of the University of Maastricht, Maastricht, the Netherlands. They have focused on the establishment of GRP as an inhibitor of soft tissue calcification and validation of its use as a biomarker in clinical diagnostics, which is a patented system with possible industrial application. In 2011, Dr Viegas became the principal investigator of a 3-year project funded by the FCT with €159 755 that aims to establish GRP as a soft tissue calcification inhibitor by studying its role and molecular mechanism underlying its function in vascular mineralisation using an in vitro cell model of vascular calcification. Dr Viegas says, “This research is expected to contribute new knowledge on the mechanisms leading to pathological calcification and identify novel diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for the treatment of diseases related to ectopic mineralisation of vascular tissues.”