Baylor College of Medicine

New Capabilities

As of May 2026: Produced the landmark metformin-brain pathway study

More than 150 million people take metformin every year to manage Type 2 diabetes. Doctors prescribed it starting in 1957, and for most of that time, assumed it worked primarily in the liver and gut. A Baylor team found that at clinically relevant low doses, the drug deactivates Rap1 in the ventromedial hypothalamus—a brain region controlling metabolism.

Updated May 30

New Capabilities

As of May 2026: Institution where breakthrough was achieved

Human norovirus eluded laboratory cultivation for nearly six decades, which prevented vaccine development for a pathogen that sickens 700 million people annually. Baylor College of Medicine researchers broke this barrier using the drug TAK-779 to achieve 10 to 15 consecutive rounds of viral replication in lab-grown human intestinal tissue, yielding stable virus stocks for the first time.

Updated May 27