A small farm at California Polytechnic State University is developing a new vaccine for the hepatitis B virus (HBV) using genetically engineered corn, San Luis Obispo County’s The Tribune reports.

The Applied Biotechnology Institute, which is based at the university, is conducting the research. The goal is to eventually produce a one-time-only hep B vaccine that could be administered orally using a corn wafer.

About 10 people in a California-based greenhouse—half of them students at the university—are growing five acres of genetically engineered corn that has been infused with HBV-fighting antibodies.

So far, the corn wafer vaccine has only been tested on mice. However, according to researchers, preliminary studies are working so well that they are planning to apply with the National Institutes of Health to begin human trials as soon as 2015.