Prof. Paula M.T. Ferreira is an Associate professor at the Chemistry Department of Universidade do Minho and a senior researcher in Centro de Química from Universidade do Minho. She received her BSc/MSc in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the Universidade de Coimbra (1989) and her PhD in Chemistry from the Universidade do Minho (1996). She has been Principal Investigator of an FCT-funded project and the Principal Investigator of the Universidade do MInho of a co-development project funded by Agência Nacional de Inovação (ANI). Her current research is focused on the development of new methodologies for the synthesis of non-proteinogenic amino acid derivatives and their application as fluorescent markers, conformational probes and new materials for biomedical applications.