ZOOM DOUG FINGER/ The Gainesville Sun Dr. Gerry Shaw, founder and chief scientific officer of EnCor Biotechnology, is the newest tenant at the Sid Martin Biotechnology Development Incubator, a facility for start-up, biotech companies in Alachua.

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University of Florida professor has teamed up with an Alabama businessman to form a new biotechnology company that creates disease-fighting organisms for medical research.

Alachua-based EnCor Biotechnology Inc. will produce antibodies, or proteins that build immunity against illness and disease, for research in neurological diseases. Gerry Shaw, a neurosciences professor at UF, has actually been performing the work for more than 15 years, but recently decided to commercialize the product with his own business venture.

"I've been supplying (antibodies) to biotech companies for a number of years," Shaw said. "What's gotten my attention recently is that this has become a multimillion dollar business. Rather than having those companies make all the money, I decided to go out on my own. Some companies are doing similar work, so we'll be working on some new inventions."

Shaw was introduced to Bill Gathings through David Day, director of UF's Office of Technology Licensing. Day and Gathings were colleagues at the University of Alabama-Birmingham, where Gathings operated a company similar to Shaw's venture with EnCor.

EnCor will target neurological diseases, or ailments that impact the body's nervous system. Antibodies will be produced and sold to companies who conduct research on Alzheimer's disease, forms of cancer and blood-clotting illnesses, Gathings said.

EnCor is also the newest tenant at the Sid Martin Biotechnology Development Incubator, a facility that houses startup, biotech-based businesses. Shaw and Gathings moved into a lab at the Sid Martin building last month and still are setting up their operations, but they soon will pursue around $300,000 in financing for an initial round of investments.

"We just need something to get us started," Gathings said. "We'd like to hire a couple of technicians and build a cash flow into the business."

Gathings said he soon plans to move to Gainesville to oversee EnCor's daily operations. Shaw, a native of England, has worked at UF since 1986 and before that earned his academic degrees at settings in London and Germany.

EnCor will have one advantage, in that many of its antibodies have already been produced by Shaw through his research at UF.

"Most biotechs are lucky to have a product developed after 10 years," Shaw said. "We already have a product in place."

The company has reached licensing agreements with the university for the commercialization of several of Shaw's antibodies.

New products will be developed at the lab through additional research, Shaw said.

Joe Coombs can be reached at (352) 338-3102 or coombsj@gvillesun.com.