Floortje Spaans, PhD

Contact

Research Partner, VPRI Research Partner Network

Email: floortje@ualberta.ca
Address: 5-227 Dianne and Irving Kipnes Health Research Academy
11405 87 Ave NW

Edmonton AB

T6G 1C9

Overview

About

I am a research partner with the College of Health Sciences, supporting the Faculty of Nursing. Originally from the Netherlands, I completed my BSc, MSc and PhD degrees at the University of Groningen. In 2014, I moved to Edmonton for a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Alberta in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. I later worked as research associate and lab manager in the same laboratory. In 2025, I joined the Research Partner Network, where I provide research/grant development support to researchers in the Faculty of Nursing, as well as campus-wide funding competitions (e.g., the Heart & Stroke Foundation).

Research

During my research career, my work focused on improving maternal and fetal/offspring health, during and after pregnancy. My research passion lies in understanding how complications during pregnancy (preeclampsia, advanced maternal age, prenatal hypoxia, excessive hypercholesterolemia) can affect the short- and long-term cardiovascular health of both the mother and her offspring. My focus has been on the impact of these complications on placental, vascular and cardiac function, including the mechanistic role of placental extracellular vesicles, LOX-1, TLR4 and AT1 during pregnancy, and potential therapeutics such as low-dose aspirin treatment. My main expertise is in preclinical models and advanced vascular function techniques.

Featured Publications

Low-dose aspirin treatment improves uterine artery function in a rat model of preeclampsia induced by excessive hypercholesterolemia in pregnancy

de Oliveira AA, Spaans F, Graton ME, Stokes A, Kirschenman R, Quon A, Cooke CLM, Davidge ST

Hypertension. 2025 February; 10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.124.24435

Placental treatment improves cardiac tolerance to ischemia/reperfusion insult in adult male and female offspring exposed to prenatal hypoxia.

Hula N, Spaans F, Vu J, Quon A, Kirschenman R, Cooke CM, Phillips TJ, Case CP, Davidge ST

Pharmacological research. 2021 January; 10.1016/j.phrs.2021.105461

Placenta-targeted treatment strategies: An opportunity to impact fetal development and improve offspring health later in life.

Ganguly E, Hula N, Spaans F, Cooke CM, Davidge ST

Pharmacological research. 2020 April; 10.1016/j.phrs.2020.104836

Alterations in vascular function by syncytiotrophoblast extracellular vesicles via lectin-like oxidized low-density lipoprotein receptor-1 in mouse uterine arteries.

Spaans F, Quon A, Rowe SR, Morton JS, Kirschenman R, Sawamura T, Tannetta DS, Sargent IL, Davidge ST

Clinical science (London, England : 1979). 2018 November; 10.1042/cs20180639

Danger signals from ATP and adenosine in pregnancy and preeclampsia.

Spaans F, de Vos P, Bakker WW, van Goor H, Faas MM

Hypertension (Dallas, Tex. : 1979). 2014 March; 10.1161/hypertensionaha.114.03240

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