Building a new category of nutrition rooted in our oldest biology

Dr. Justin Whiteley has built a career out of bringing to market nutritional ingredients that provide exceptional human health benefits from organisms found in nature. Prior to founding Kioga and serving as CEO, Whiteley co-founded Meati Foods and served as Chief Science & Technology Officer. At Meati, he successfully scaled novel fermentation and food manufacturing technologies from the lab into two factories launching products under the retail brand EatMeati while growing the company from 2 to 300 employees in 3 years. Before Meati, he developed critical technologies in the fields of energy storage and recyclable plastics. He began his career as a mechanical engineer at a variety of nuclear power plants in the western United States. He has committed his career to developing environmentally sound, bountiful, affordable, and varied energy sources that support humanity in all its endeavors.

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Whiteley obtained a bachelor's degree in mechanical and nuclear engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. He went on to complete master's and doctoral degrees in mechanical engineering at the University of Colorado, Boulder. Whiteley has authored more than 15 peer-reviewed publications and secured over 10 patents.

Dr. Stamper received his PhD in Integrative Physiology from the University of Colorado Boulder and his research focuses on how the microbiome and immune system interact to influence mental health. For the past seven years, he has been working on clinical studies in US Veterans with a dual appointment at the VA Rocky Mountain Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Center (MIRECC) and as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. Dr. Stamper has been a Co-Investigator on phase I & II clinical trials examining the efficacy of alternative therapeutics for treating posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in US Veterans. He is a Co-I on a study transferring fecal microbiome from human patients with rheumatoid arthritis to mice to determine how the microbiome can influence the development of rheumatoid arthritis. He is a Co-I on a study of Emergency Department patients admitted for traumatic brain injury (TBI) to track their microbiome and inflammatory markers every month for one year to assess how TBI, inflammation, and the microbiome are interacting over the course of a year. Dr. Stamper’s research background and work with clinical populations has provided a conceptual foundation on the mechanisms driving the efficacy of alternative therapeutics. He has a deep conviction to Kioga’s mission and a drive to provide access to a truly remarkable portfolio of tier 1 research with effective products to millions that currently have unmet needs.

Dr. Bohr is a former CPA, exercise physiologist, epidemiologist and data scientist. He left his job in public accounting to pursue his deep interest in exercise and wellness, leading him to the University of Colorado Boulder where he earned a PhD in integrative physiology and eventually to co-found Kioga. Through his time as a graduate student and principal investigator of the Pac-12 Concussion Coordinating Unit, Dr. Bohr has always had an innate curiosity about the things that make us healthy, with a specific focus on determinants of obesity and how head trauma can affect mental well-being later in life. He has a passion for evidenced-based interventions that improve human health and has played a critical role in clinical trials of spinal devices that relieve debilitating neck and lower back pain. He brings that same passion to proving the amazing capabilities of Kioga’s core technologies. In his spare time, he enjoys skiing on snow and water with his wife, singing the Moana soundtrack to his daughter, bluegrass music, and an unhealthy obsession with the Chicago Bears.

Christopher A. Lowry, Ph.D. is Professor in the Department of Integrative Physiology, Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Center for Neuroscience, and Center for Microbial Exploration at the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder), with a secondary appointment in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (PM&R) and Center for Neuroscience, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, a Principal Investigator in the Department of Veterans Affairs Eastern Colorado Health Care System, VA Rocky Mountain Mental Illness Research, Education, & Clinical Center (MIRECC), director of the Behavioral Neuroendocrinology Laboratory at CU Boulder, and Co-Founder and Co-Director of the Military and Veteran Microbiome Consortium for Research and Education (MVM-CoRE). He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate from the University of Wyoming where he received training in comparative endocrinology.

Dr. Lowry was a Wellcome Trust Research Fellow at the University of Bristol, United Kingdom from 2002-2006. Dr. Lowry’s research program at CU Boulder focuses on understanding stress-related physiology and behavior with an emphasis on the microbiome-gut-brain axis, a program designed to lead to novel, microbiome-based interventions for the prevention of anxiety disorders, mood disorders, and trauma- and stressor-related disorders, such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Dr. Lowry has been a principal investigator on 6 NIH grants, and numerous foundation and industry-sponsored projects. His research accomplishments have been recognized through many awards, including recognition by the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation for Top 10 Advancements & Breakthroughs by Foundation Grantees in 2016. Importantly, Dr. Lowry has mentored numerous undergraduate students, graduate students, and postdoctoral fellows who have gone on to successful independent careers in academia, industry, and medicine.