Sunita KC Basnet

Research Interests

Drug discovery Cancer Cell Biology

Dr Sunita KC Basnet

Grant-Funded Researcher (A)

SAIGENCI

College of Health

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD (as Co-Supervisor) - email supervisor to discuss availability.

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.

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

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

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

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), 118340.
DOI Europe PMC1
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 Scopus7 WoS6 Europe PMC4
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), 117158.
DOI Scopus15 WoS15 Europe PMC10
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 WoS10 Europe PMC10
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 WoS5 Europe PMC5
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), 113215.
DOI Scopus13 WoS12 Europe PMC9
2019 Abdelaziz, A. M., Diab, S., Islam, S., KC Basnet, S., 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 PMC5
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 & medicinal chemistry letters, 29(18), 2650-2654.
DOI Scopus10 WoS10 Europe PMC7
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, 10(5), 786-791.
DOI Scopus23 WoS21 Europe PMC18
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 WoS22 Europe PMC19
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 PMC40
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 PMC10
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 WoS20 Europe PMC15
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), 1-15.
DOI Scopus23 WoS23 Europe PMC22
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 PMC20
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 WoS28 Europe PMC23
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 PMC17
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 WoS15 Europe PMC10
2014 Diab, S., Teo, T. H. S., 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 PMC58

Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
2020 Co-Supervisor - Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Lianmeng Kou

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