Sunita KC Basnet

Sunita KC Basnet

South Australian Immunogenomics Cancer Institute

Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences

Dr Sunita KC Basnet is a postdoctoral researcher in the Molecular & Proximity Discovery (MPD) Laboratory, led by Dr Michael Roy, within the Resistance Prevention Program at the South Australian immunoGENomics Cancer Institute (SAiGENCI). She holds a PhD in Pharmacy from the University of South Australia, where her research focused on the identification and preclinical development of novel kinase inhibitors for cancer treatment. Dr Basnet brings extensive expertise in cancer biology, pharmacology, and drug discovery, with a particular emphasis on cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors and the use of both in vitro and in vivo cancer models. Following her PhD, she continued working with Professor Shudong Wang in the Drug Discovery and Development group at UniSA, contributing to the development of several targeted anti-cancer agents. Her current research explores the discovery of small molecule Targeted Protein Degraders and Molecular Glues aimed at overcoming drug resistance and addressing previously ‘undruggable’ targets in cancer signalling pathways.

  • Appointments
    Date Position Institution name
    2025 - ongoing Postdoctoral Research Officer University of Adelaide
    2018 - 2025 Research Assistant University of South Australia

  • Language Competencies
    Language Competency
    English Can read, write, speak, understand spoken and peer review
    Nepali Can read, write, speak, understand spoken and peer review

  • Education
    Date Institution name Country Title
    2013 - 2018 University of South Australia Australia PhD
    2010 - 2013 University of Miyazaki Japan Masters
    2002 - 2006 Pokhara University Nepal Bachelors

  • Research Interests
    Drug discovery Cancer Cell Biology

  • Journals
    Year Citation
    2025 Mekonnen, L. B., Teo, T., Noll, B., Rahaman, M. H., Lenjisa, J., Basnet, S., . . . Wang, S. (2025). A brain-penetrant CDK4/6 inhibitor - AU3-14 shows robust anti-tumor efficacy against glioblastoma.. Biomedicine & pharmacotherapy = Biomedecine & pharmacotherapie, 189, 118340.
    DOI
    2025 Safaroghli-azar, A., Mekonnen, L. B., Hassankhani, R., Lenjisa, J., Basnet, S. K. C., Batayneh, H., . . . Wang, S. (2025). A novel CDK4 inhibitor for myeloid protection in chemotherapy-treated triple-negative breast Cancer. Investigational New Drugs, 43(3), 728-741.
    DOI
    2023 Fanta, B. S., Lenjisa, J., Teo, T., Kou, L., Mekonnen, L., Yang, Y., . . . Wang, S. (2023). Discovery of N,4-Di(1H-pyrazol-4-yl)pyrimidin-2-amine-Derived CDK2 Inhibitors as Potential Anticancer Agents: Design, Synthesis, and Evaluation. Molecules, 28(7), 2951.
    DOI Scopus5 WoS4 Europe PMC2
    2023 Fanta, B. S., Mekonnen, L., Basnet, S. K. C., Teo, T., Lenjisa, J., Khair, N. Z., . . . Wang, S. (2023). 2-Anilino-4-(1-methyl-1H-pyrazol-4-yl)pyrimidine-derived CDK2 inhibitors as anticancer agents: Design, synthesis & evaluation. Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry, 80, 117158.
    DOI Scopus14 Europe PMC8
    2022 Anshabo, A. T., Bantie, L., Diab, S., Lenjisa, J., Kebede, A., Long, Y., . . . Wang, S. (2022). An Orally Bioavailable and Highly Efficacious Inhibitor of CDK9/FLT3 for the Treatment of Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Cancers, 14(5), 1113.
    DOI Scopus12
    2022 Chen, R., Hassankhani, R., Long, Y., Basnet, S. K. C., Teo, T., Yang, Y., . . . Wang, S. (2022). Discovery of Potent Inhibitors of Cyclin-Dependent Kinases 7 and 9: Design, Synthesis, Structure-Activity Relationship Analysis and Biological Evaluation. Chemmedchem, 18(3), e202200582.
    DOI Scopus5 Europe PMC3
    2021 Long, Y., Yu, M., Ochnik, A. M., Karanjia, J. D., Basnet, S. K., Kebede, A. A., . . . Wang, S. (2021). Discovery of novel 4-azaaryl-N-phenylpyrimidin-2-amine derivatives as potent and selective FLT3 inhibitors for acute myeloid leukaemia with FLT3 mutations. European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 213, 113215.
    DOI Scopus11 WoS10 Europe PMC5
    2019 Abdelaziz, A. M., Diab, S., Islam, S., Basnet, S. K. C., Noll, B., Li, P., . . . Wang, S. (2019). Discovery of n-phenyl-4-(1h-pyrrol-3-yl)pyrimidin-2-amine derivatives as potent mnk2 inhibitors: Design, synthesis, sar analysis, and evaluation of in vitro anti-leukaemic activity. Medicinal Chemistry, 15(6), 600-621.
    DOI Scopus6 WoS5 Europe PMC4
    2019 Abdelaziz, A. M., Basnet, S. K. C., Islam, S., Li, M., Tadesse, S., Albrecht, H., . . . Wang, S. (2019). Synthesis and evaluation of 2′H-spiro[cyclohexane-1,3′-imidazo[1,5-a]pyridine]-1′,5′-dione derivatives as Mnk inhibitors. Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry Letters, 29(18), 2650-2654.
    DOI Scopus10 WoS10 Europe PMC5
    2019 Khair, N. Z., Lenjisa, J. L., Tadesse, S., Kumarasiri, M., Basnet, S. K. C., Mekonnen, L. B., . . . Wang, S. (2019). Discovery of CDK5 Inhibitors through Structure-Guided Approach. ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters, 10(5), 786-791.
    DOI Scopus22
    2017 Diab, S., Abdelaziz, A. M., Li, P., Teo, T., Basnet, S. K. C., Noll, B., . . . Wang, S. (2017). Dual Inhibition of Mnk2 and FLT3 for potential treatment of acute myeloid leukaemia. European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 139, 762-772.
    DOI Scopus23 Europe PMC11
    2017 Tadesse, S., Yu, M., Mekonnen, L. B., Lam, F., Islam, S., Tomusange, K., . . . Wang, S. (2017). Highly Potent, Selective, and Orally Bioavailable 4-Thiazol-N-(pyridin-2-yl)pyrimidin-2-amine Cyclin-Dependent Kinases 4 and 6 Inhibitors as Anticancer Drug Candidates: Design, Synthesis, and Evaluation. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 60(5), 1892-1915.
    DOI Scopus72 WoS65 Europe PMC30
    2017 Kumarasiri, M., Teo, T., Yu, M., Philip, S., Basnet, S. K. C., Albrecht, H., . . . Wang, S. (2017). In Search of Novel CDK8 Inhibitors by Virtual Screening. Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling, 57(3), 413-416.
    DOI Scopus15 WoS16 Europe PMC9
    2016 Diab, S., Li, P., Basnet, S. K. C., Lu, J., Yu, M., Albrecht, H., . . . Wang, S. (2016). Unveiling new chemical scaffolds as Mnk inhibitors. Future Medicinal Chemistry, 8(3), 271-285.
    DOI Scopus22 Europe PMC11
    2016 Li, P., Diab, S., Yu, M., Adams, J., Islam, S., Basnet, S. K. C., . . . Wang, S. (2016). Inhibition of Mnk enhances apoptotic activity of cytarabine in acute myeloid leukemia cells. Oncotarget, 7(35), 56811-56825.
    DOI Scopus22 WoS22 Europe PMC17
    2015 Yu, M., Li, P., K c Basnet, S., Kumarasiri, M., Diab, S., Teo, T., . . . Wang, S. (2015). Discovery of 4-(dihydropyridinon-3-yl)amino-5-methylthieno[2,3-d[pyrimidine derivatives as potent Mnk inhibitors: Synthesis, structure-activity relationship analysis and biological evaluation. European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 95, 116-126.
    DOI Scopus37 WoS37 Europe PMC14
    2015 Teo, T., Lam, F., Yu, M., Yang, Y., Basnet, S., Albrecht, H., . . . Wang, S. (2015). Pharmacologic inhibition of MNKs in acute myeloid leukemia. Molecular Pharmacology, 88(2), 380-389.
    DOI Scopus31 Europe PMC15
    2015 Teo, T., Yang, Y., Yu, M., Basnet, S., Gillam, T., Hou, J., . . . Wang, S. (2015). An integrated approach for discovery of highly potent and selective Mnk inhibitors: Screening, synthesis and SAR analysis. European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 103, 539-550.
    DOI Scopus31 WoS27 Europe PMC9
    2015 Basnet, S., Diab, S., Schmid, R., Yu, M., Yang, Y., Gillam, T., . . . Wang, S. (2015). Identification of a highly conserved allosteric binding site on Mnk1 and Mnk2 s. Molecular Pharmacology, 88(5), 935-948.
    DOI Scopus15 Europe PMC9
    2014 Diab, S., Teo, T., Kumarasiri, M., Li, P., Yu, M., Lam, F., . . . Wang, S. (2014). Discovery of 5-(2-(phenylamino)pyrimidin-4-yl)thiazol-2(3H)-one derivatives as potent Mnk2 inhibitors: Synthesis, SAR analysis and biological evaluation. Chemmedchem, 9(5), 962-972.
    DOI Scopus80 WoS76 Europe PMC46
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