University of Wisconsin Animal Sciences Professor Mark Cook has created Ab E Discovery LLC  to commercialize research in developing an antibiotic-free method to protect animals raised for food against common infections, the university recently announced.

“We are not focused on the pathogens,” Cook said in a statement. “We are focused on what they are trying to do to the immune system. The market is interested, and now it’s a matter of making a product.”

According to a release, Cook and his colleague Jordan Sand focus on a fundamental immune “off-switch” called Interleukin 10 (IL-10), which helps defeat the immune system during infection. The duo have disabled this switch inside the intestine, which is the site for major farm animal infection.

Hens are vaccinated with antibodies, which are then put in eggs that are sprayed on the feed of the animals they want to protect. The antibody neutralizes the IL-10 off-switch in the animals, allowing their immune systems to better fight the diseases.

In the 300,000 chickens that ate the antibody material, all of them were fully protected against coccidiosis, a diarrheal disease.

The team’s patents have been filed through the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, and they’ve been offered a $100,000 Accelerator Program grant through WARF to help pursue the antibiotic-replacement technology.