I manage and help write proposals at a university placed by the Times Higher Education in the world’s top 1 percent. Few places on earth are better for studying and advancing research in industrial, computer, electrical engineering; materials science; earth and space exploration; and biotechnology.

In doing my job, I see even before other academics and researchers how the world’s best scientists and engineers expand the frontiers of their chosen fields.

One engineer has a method for getting rid of dendrites in lithium batteries. I cannot say anymore than that, but in short, he and his partners know how to overcome one of physics and chemistry’s biggest obstacles to higher-capacity, longer-lasting lithium batteries in smartphones, drones, laptops, and electric cars.

A team of biochemists is folding nucleic acid nanostructures into geometrical shapes that can be used to reinvent biology on a nanoscale. Some day soon, they may be able to fold DNA and RNA—nature’s genetic instructions for life to grow, develop, function, and reproduce—into cures and treatments for cancer and infectious diseases.

My hope is they or someone else uses such methods to invent a cure for autoimmune diseases like dermatomyositis.

Living on the edge of what’s possible in modern medicine in a chaotic world seemingly controlled by corrupt institutions can be discouraging. Not knowing what cures and treatments await me induces as much anxiety as simply having the disease and as much frustration as dealing with hospital and insurance bureaucracies.

But it helps knowing such people are out there, looking at ways to improve humanity and society, to make our lives easier, is encouraging—especially for those of us waiting for a miracle.