What could a scientist in my Star Wars story be working on?

I’m writing a short story about a scientist in the Star Wars galaxy. I need him to be researching something but it can’t be too game changing or advanced enough to alter the story and I would rather avoid technobabble or something so scienc-y that it is boring. It also needs to be something that hasn’t been done in the old Star Wars canon or the new Star Wars canon. Teleportation, time travel and matter replicators were all done in Star Wars Legends (the storyline of products up until 2014) and are stated to be impossible in New Disney canon. Some stuff being researched by scientists in canon are lasers that can penetrate deflector shields, droids taking control of other droids and dark matter weapons like Starkiller Base. These things are already in motion so I can t use them. Believe it or not a Dyson sphere, shrink ray and freeze ray have been done in Legends. I also rather avoid megastructures because they would be expensive to make even in the Star Wars galaxy and not something a lone scientist could accomplish. I also try to avoid anything smaller than nano technology. Picotechnology and Femtotechnology are just not kosher for Star Wars. Also droids that can change shape with liquid metal or nanites wont work and limb regeneration is off limits as well, since the story thrives on cybernetics. I’ve given you a lot of limits but I’m trying to think of something creative and unique for my story.