Since childhood Dr. Amy Trottier has been determined to face challenges head on, whether being the only girl wanting to play hockey in her hometown or researching to find the best care for her patients.
The assistant professor in the division of hematology at Dalhousie University and the QEII Health Sciences Centre recently won the QEII Foundation’s Innovation Den, securing $200,000 to support her research, which is set to transform the way blood cancer patients have genetic testing performed.
“This funding is going to be able to help so many people,” Dr. Trottier expressed after winning the 2026 QEII Foundation’s Innovation Den and its top prize grant through the Innovation Catalyst Fund which is entirely funded by QEII Foundation donors.
“When a person is diagnosed with cancer, they often question, why did this cancer occur and fear that their family members may be at increased risk. Blood cancers were previously believed to occur by chance alone, but we now know that isn't always true. Over 7,000 Canadians will be diagnosed with life-threatening blood cancers like leukemia each year —about 10 per cent of these cancers are caused by a hereditary genetic change.”
Dr. Trottier’s research is working to use a non-invasive way to test people for hereditary blood cancers, using toenail clippings.
“For patients with blood cancer, we cannot use blood samples to do genetic testing, as their blood contains the cancer itself and cancer causes its own genetic changes. The current standard is to perform a skin biopsy. However, this is invasive, and it can result in pain, infection, or bleeding. To solve this problem, we've developed a non-invasive way of collecting hereditary genetic material, using a person's own nail clippings, which can easily be collected from anywhere in the province. This results in lower cost to the healthcare system and greater accessibility for patients — it will cut down on the testing time by a full month.”
The Innovation Den funding Dr. Trottier received will go towards funding new equipment that will ensure the highest quality genetic testing results, pay for DNA extractions and whole genome sequencing, as well as supporting the research staff working on this project.
“When one of my patients is found to have a hereditary cause for their blood cancer, their family members are often worried already knowing that let's say my mom was diagnosed with leukemia — could I get leukemia too? Now we give them the chance to have a test to say either ‘no, you're not at any higher risk than the average person’ or ‘yes, unfortunately you are, but here's what we're going to do about it’. And with the latest genetic testing technology, we have the ability even to test for things that we currently don't know exist. So beyond finding those answers in the here and now, we can discover future genetic changes or things we don't currently know about that can change the trajectory and change the path for blood cancer patients going forward for decades.”
On April 16, 2026, the QEII Foundation’s Innovation Den took place at the QEII’s Halifax Infirmary in partnership with Nova Scotia Health Research.
The 2026 QEII Foundation’s Innovation Den judge’s panel included:
Dr. Karen Cross, CEO and Co-Founder, MIMOSA Diagnostics
Don Grant, Managing Director, Cuna del Mar
Christine Pound, Partner, Stewart McKelvey.
Jeff Larsen, Assistant Vice-President of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Dalhousie University.
As part of its We Are campaign, the QEII Foundation’s Innovation Den awards are funded through its Innovation Catalyst Grant program, established with a $1-million gift from Susan Crocker and the late John Hunkin in 2023. The goal of their generosity was to transform healthcare innovation in Nova Scotia, challenging others to match their gift and double the annual impact to $200,000 to groundbreaking researchers.
To learn more about the QEII Foundation’s Innovation Den and our 2026 finalists, click here.
