Skip to Main Content

Old Friends

Microbial Allies We’ve Lost in Modern Life

Our Mission

Targeting inflammation at its source by re-introducing microbial allies which have supported human health for millennia.

The Pattern Is Clear

Across populations around the world, a consistent pattern emerges:
‍
People living in closer contact with the natural environment—rural, agrarian, and less industrialized communities—experience significantly lower rates of chronic inflammatory conditions.

As societies urbanize and modernize, rates are increasing for:

Autoimmune disease
Allergies
Metabolic dysfunction
Stress-related disorders

This shift has occurred too rapidly to be explained by genetics alone. It points to something we’ve lost.

Childhood Microbial Experience

Childhood microbial experience, immunoregulation, inflammation and adult susceptibility to psychosocial stressors and depression in rich and poor countries

Read more
The Hygiene Hypothesis – Learning From but Not Living in the Past

The epidemiological basis for the Hygiene Hypothesis became apparent long before the Hygiene Hypothesis was postulated.

Read more
Environmental Biodiversity, Human Microbiota, and Allergy are Interrelated

Rapidly declining biodiversity may be a contributing factor to another global megatrend—the rapidly increasing prevalence of allergies and other chronic inflammatory diseases among urban populations worldwide.

Read more

The Background

What Exactly are Old Friends?

Old Friends are environmental microbes that humans co-evolved with over hundreds of thousands of years.
‍
These organisms were our constant companions from our environment—found in soil, water, plants, and animals—and played a critical role in training the immune system.

They helped the body learn:

What is harmful
What is harmless
When to respond, and when not to

In doing so, they established a stable, regulated immune baseline. Modern life removed these signals—but our biology still depends on them.

Get in touch

Our Approach

Kioga's Global Microbial Discovery Unlocking Nature's Untapped
Source of Resilience

Kioga scientists hold one of the world’s largest proprietary Old Friend rich soil sample banks. Using advanced sequencing and AI-driven screening, we identify and isolate microbial strains that produce precise anti-inflammatory compounds aimed at brain health and immune regulation.

Chronic Low-Grade Inflammation:
A Common Driver Across Modern Health

Stress Sensitivity
AGING + LONGEVITY
Metabolic Health
Skin Health
Respiratory

Stress Sensitivity

Low-grade inflammation directly influences the immune cells in the brain causing them to enter a hypersensitive, primed state which has a cascading negative influence on neurotransmitter signaling, and sensitivity to stress. This can manifest as heightened agitation, poor sleep quality, mood instability, and impaired cognitive clarity.

Learn More

Healthy Aging & Longevity

Chronic inflammation is a central driver of aging, often referred to as “inflammaging." Over time, persistent immune activation accelerates cellular and neuronal decline, disrupts tissue repair, and contributes to cognitive and physical deterioration.

Learn More

Metabolic Health

Inflammatory signaling interferes with metabolic regulation impacting insulin sensitivity, energy balance, satiety signaling, mitochondrial function, and fat storage. This chronic disruption can contribute to weight gain, reduced metabolic efficiency, and long-term metabolic dysfunction.

Learn More

Skin Health

The immune system plays a key role in skin barrier function and inflammatory response. Dysregulation can lead to increased sensitivity, irritation, and chronic inflammatory skin conditions, reflecting imbalances that often originate systemically.

Learn More

Respiratory & Allergen Response

An overreactive immune system can misinterpret harmless environmental inputs as threats. This heightened sensitivity contributes to allergic responses and respiratory inflammation, driven by a lack of proper immune calibration.

Learn More

Kioga Origin

A Discovery Rooted in the Soil

Founded in 2025, Kioga draws from deep roots in academic research at CU Boulder. The search for a solution to the modern inflammation epidemic led not to the pharmacy, but back to the earth—to the rarest and most potent microbial allies residing in the soil.

Like so many great nutritional discoveries, this one began in the field and progressed by accident. In the mud surrounding Lake Kyoga, an oasis formed over 100,000 years ago, researcher led by Dr. John Stanford found a novel strain of Mycolicibacterium and started testing its unique properties. Incredibly, these bacteria didn’t just modify peoples’ immune systems when tested clinically, they reported feeling better too, 
and a new line of research was born.

Building Products to Restore What We’ve Lost

NeuroAlly™ gives you access to a new class of ingredients—designed to restore the microbial signals that once kept human biology in balance.

Now available for partners building the next generation of stress, mood, and cognitive health products.

Partner With Us