Glioblastoma is one of the most deadly forms of cancer, often returning with a vengeance after surgery to remove it. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have now developed an immunity-boosting hydrogel that can be injected into the brain after surgery to clear out remaining cancer stem cells.

The survival rates for glioblastoma are among the lowest of any cancer, with less than 5% of patients surviving five years after diagnosis. That’s largely because this brain cancer has a tendency to come back after the tumor is surgically removed, as glioma stem cells are left behind to form new tumors.

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“One characteristic of glioblastoma is that the tumor cells are very aggressive, and they will infiltrate the surrounding tissues,” said Quanyin Hu, corresponding author of the study. “So the surgeon can’t clearly feel the boundaries between the tumor and the normal tissue, and you cannot remove as much as possible because all the tissues in the brain are extremely important – you certainly don’t want to remove too much.”

Read more: New Atlas