Since December 2019, the emergence of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has caused severe pneumonia, a disease named COVID-19, that became pandemic and created an acute threat to public health. The effective therapeutics are in urgent need. Here, we developed a high-content screening for the antiviral candidates using fluorescence-based SARS-CoV-2 nucleoprotein detection in Vero E6 cells coupled with plaque reduction assay. Among 122 Thai natural products, we found that Boesenbergia rotunda extract and its phytochemical compound, panduratin A, exhibited the potent anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity. Treatment with B. rotunda extract and panduratin A after viral infection drastically suppressed SARS-CoV-2 infectivity in Vero E6 cells with IC₅₀ of 3.62 μg/mL (CC₅₀ = 28.06 µg/mL) and 0.81 μΜ (CC₅₀ = 14.71 µM), respectively. Also, the treatment of panduratin A at the pre-entry phase inhibited SARS-CoV-2 infection with IC₅₀ of 5.30 µM (CC₅₀ = 43.47 µM). Our study demonstrated, for the first time, that panduratin A exerts the inhibitory effect against SARS-CoV-2 infection at both pre-entry and post-infection phases. Apart from Vero E6 cells, treatment with this compound was able to suppress viral infectivity in human airway epithelial cells. This result confirmed the potential of panduratin A as the anti-SARS-CoV-2 agent in the major target cells in human. Since B. rotunda is a culinary herb generally grown in China and Southeast Asia, its extract and the purified panduratin A may serve as the promising candidates for therapeutic purposes with economic advantage during COVID-19 situation.

β-globin gene disorders are the most prevalent inherited diseases worldwide and result from abnormal β-globin synthesis or structure. Novel therapeutic approaches are being developed in an effort to move beyond palliative management. Gene therapy, by ex vivo lentiviral transfer of a therapeutic β- globin gene derivative (β ^AT87Q - globin ) to hematopoietic stem cells, driven by cis-regulatory elements that confer high, erythroid-specific expression, has been evaluated in human clinical trials over the past 8 years. β ^AT87Q -globin is used both as a strong inhibitor of HbS polymerization and as a biomarker. While long-term studies are underway in multiple centers in Europe and in the United States, proof-of-principle of efficacy and safety has already been obtained in multiple patients with β-thalassemia and sickle cell disease.

Replication‐defective retroviral vectors are efficient vehicles for the delivery of exogenous genes, and they may be used in the generation of transgenic animals. The replication‐defective retroviral SNTZ vector carrying the lacZ gene with a nuclear localized signal was injected into the subgerminal cavity of freshly laid eggs. Subsequently, the eggs were allowed to hatch, and the chickens were screened for the lacZ gene by using the polymerase chain reaction. Eight of 15 male chickens that survived to sexual maturity contained the lacZ gene in their semen. Subsequently, these males were mated with wild‐type female chickens. From one of the eight lacZ‐positive G₀ males, two lacZ‐positive male chickens were produced from a total of 224 G₁ progeny for a germline transmission rate of 0.89%. Both G₁ male chickens carrying the lacZ gene were mated with wild‐type female chickens and 46.5% of the G₂ progeny contained the lacZ gene, which is consistent with the expected Mendelian 50% ratio for a heterozygous dominant allele. The product of the lacZ gene, nuclear localized β‐galactosidase, was expressed in primary myoblast cultures derived from G₂ chickens, and it was also expressed in whole G₂ chicken embryos. Developmental Dynamics, 2003.