Dr Mingfeng Yu

Adjunct Senior Research Fellow UniSA Clinical & Health Sciences

City East Campus ()
tel +61 8 830 21783

email Mingfeng.Yu@unisa.edu.au

Available for media comment
Research Degree Supervisor

About me

Mingfeng Yu completed his PhD in organic chemistry at the University of Sydney under the supervision of Professors Matthew H. Todd and Peter J. Rutledge in 2013. His PhD research entailed the design, synthesis and evaluation of novel scorpionand metal-cyclam complexes appended with biologically-active motifs. He was appointed as a Research Fellow (Medicinal Chemistry) at the University of South Australia upon completion of his PhD, and was promoted to a Senior Research Fellow in 2020. Under the guidance of Professor Shudong Wang, he is currently involved in the discovery and development of patentable, highly potent and selective, and orally active enzyme inhibitors for targeted cancer therapy.

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Research

Research focus

Medicinal and Biomolecular Chemistry
Organic Chemistry
Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences
Biochemistry and Cell Biology
Inorganic Chemistry

Research

Outputs

Research outputs for the last seven years are shown below. Some long-standing staff members may have older outputs included. To see earlier years visit ORCID, ResearcherID or Scopus

Open access indicates that an output is open access.

Journal Articles

Year	Output
2023	Chen, R, Hassankhani, R, Long, Y, Basnet, SK, Teo, T, Yang, Y, Mekonnen, L, Yu, M & Wang, S 2023, 'Discovery of potent Inhibitors of cyclin-dependent kinases 7 and 9: design, synthesis, structure-activity relationship analysis and biological evaluation', ChemMedChem: chemistry enabling drug discovery, vol. 18, no. 3, article no. e202200582. Open access 4 4 11
2023	Fanta, BS, Mekonnen, L, Basnet, SK, Teo, T, Lenjisa, J, Khair, NZ, Kou, L, Tadesse, S, Sykes, MJ, Yu, M & 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, vol. 80, article no. 117158, pp. 1-15. Open access 12 12 1
2023	Islam, S, Rahaman, MH, Yu, M, Noll, B, Martin, JH, Wang, S & Head, R 2023, 'Anti-Leukaemic activity of Rilpivirine Is mediated by Aurora A Kinase Inhibition', Cancers, vol. 15, no. 4, article no. 1044, pp. 1-21. Open access 2 1 3
2023	Sintayehu Fanta, B, Lenjisa, J, Teo, T, Kou, L, Mekonnen, L, Yang, Y, Basnet, SK, Hassankhani, R, Sykes, MJ, Yu, M & 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, vol. 28, no. 7, article no. 2951, pp. 1-21. Open access 5 4 2
2022	Yu, M, Yang, Y, Sykes, M & Wang, S 2022, 'Small-molecule inhibitors of tankyrases as prospective therapeutics for cancer', Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, vol. 65, no. 7, pp. 5244-5273. Open access 24 25 2
2021	Abdelaziz, AM, Yu, M & Wang, S 2021, 'Mnk inhibitors: a patent review', Pharmaceutical Patent Analyst, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 25-35. Open access 9 10
2021	Counsell, AJ, Yu, M, Shi, M, Jones, AT, Batten, JM, Turner, P, Todd, MH & Rutledge, PJ 2021, 'Copper(ii) complexes of N-propargyl cyclam ligands reveal a range of coordination modes and colours, and unexpected reactivity', Dalton Transactions: An International Journal of Inorganic Chemistry, vol. 50, no. 11, pp. 3931-3942.
2021	Long, Y, Yu, M, Ochnik, AM, Karanjia, JD, KC Basnet, S, Kebede, AA, Kou, L & 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, vol. 213, article no. 113215, pp. 1-18. Open access 11 10 1
2021	Yu, M, Long, Y, Yang, Y, Li, M, Teo, T, Noll, B, Philip, S & Wang, S 2021, 'Discovery of a potent, highly selective, and orally bioavailable inhibitor of CDK8 through a structure-based optimisation', European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, vol. 218, article no. 113391. Open access 8 7
2021	Yu, M, Teo, T, Yang, Y, Li, M, Long, Y, Philip, S, Noll, B, Heinemann, GK, Diab, S, Eldi, P, Mekonnen, L, Anshabo, AT, Rahaman, MH, Milne, R, Hayball, JD & Wang, S 2021, 'Potent and orally bioavailable CDK8 inhibitors: design, synthesis, structure-activity relationship analysis and biological evaluation', European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, vol. 214, pp. 1-22. Open access 14 12 1
2020	Bantie, L, Tadesse, S, Likisa, J, Yu, M, Noll, B, Heinemann, G, Lokman, NA, Ricciardelli, C, Oehler, MK, Beck, A, Pradhan, R, Milne, R, Albrecht, H & Wang, S 2020, 'A first-in-class CDK4 inhibitor demonstrates in vitro, ex-vivo and in vivo efficacy against ovarian cancer', Gynecologic Oncology, vol. 159, no. 3, pp. 827-838. 13 16 1
2020	Diab, S, Yu, M & Wang, S 2020, 'CDK7 inhibitors in cancer therapy: the sweet smell of success?', Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, vol. 63, no. 14, pp. 7458-7474. 57 54 7
2019	Abdelaziz, AM, Diab, S, Islam, S, KC Basnet, S, Noll, B, Li, P, Mekonnen, LB, Lu, J, Albrecht, H, Milne, RW, Gerber, C, Yu, M & 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, vol. 15, no. 6, pp. 600-621. 6 5
2019	Abdelaziz, AM, MC Basnet, S, Islam, S, Li, M, Tadesse, S, Albrecht, H, Gerber, C, Yu, M & 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, vol. 29, no. 18, pp. 2650-2654. Open access 10 10 3
2019	Rahaman, MH, Lam, F, Zhong, L, Teo, T, Adams, J, Yu, M, Milne, RW, Pepper, C, Lokman, NA, Ricciardelli, C, Oehler, MK & Wang, S 2019, 'Targeting CDK9 for treatment of colorectal cancer', Molecular Oncology, vol. 13, no. 10, pp. 2178-2193. Open access 45 42
2018	Philip, S, Kumarasiri, M, Teo, T, Yu, M & Wang, S 2018, 'Cyclin-dependent kinase 8: a new hope in targeted cancer therapy?', Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, vol. 61, no. 12, pp. 5073-5092. 91 88 13
2018	Tadesse, S, Bantie, L, Tomusange, K, Yu, M, Islam, S, Bykovska, N, Noll, B, Zhu, G, Li, P, Lam, F, Kumarasiri, M, Milne, R & Wang, S 2018, 'Discovery and pharmacological characterisation of a novel series of highly selective inhibitors of cyclin-dependent kinases 4 and 6 as anticancer agents', British Journal of Pharmacology, vol. 175, no. 12, pp. 2399-2413. Open access 22 21 3
2017	Diab, S, Abdelaziz, AM, Li, P, Teo, T, Basnet, SK, Noll, B, Rahaman, MH, Lu, J, Hou, J, Yu, M, Le, BT, Albrecht, H, Milne, RW & Wang, S 2017, 'Dual inhibition of Mnk2 and FLT3 for potential treatment of acute myeloid leukaemia', European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, vol. 139, pp. 762-772. Open access 23 21
2017	Kumarasiri, M, Teo, T, Yu, M, Philip, S, Basnet, SK, Albrecht, H, Sykes, MJ, Wang, P & Wang, S 2017, 'In search of novel CDK8 inhibitors by virtual screening', Journal of Chemical Information and Modeling, vol. 57, no. 3, pp. 413-416. 15 16 2
2017	Lenjisa, JL, Tadesse, S, Khair, NZ, Kumarasiri, M, Yu, M, Albrecht, H, Milne, R & Wang, S 2017, 'CDK5 in oncology: recent advances and future prospects.', Future Medicinal Chemistry, vol. 9, no. 16, pp. 1939-1962. Open access 35 34
2017	Tadesse, S, Zhu, G, Mekonnen, LB, Lenjisa, JL, Yu, M, Brown, MP & Wang, S 2017, 'A novel series of N-(pyridin-2-yl)-4-(thiazol-5-yl)pyrimidin-2-amines as highly potent CDK4/6 inhibitors', Future Medicinal Chemistry, vol. 9, no. 13, pp. 1495-1506. Open access 15 15 2
2017	Zeleke, S, Yu, M, Mekonnen, LB, Lam, F, Islam, S, Tomusange, K, Rahaman, MH, Noll, B, MC Basnet, S, Teo, T, Albrecht, H, Milne, R & 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, vol. 60, no. 5, pp. 1892-1915. Open access 68 62 9
2016	Diab, S, Li, P, MC Basnet, S, Lu, J, Yu, M, Albrecht, H, Milne, RW & Wang, S 2016, 'Unveiling new chemical scaffolds as Mnk inhibitors', Future Medicinal Chemistry, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 271-285. 20 19 3
2016	Li, P, Diab, S, Yu, M, Adams, J, Islam, S, MC Basnet, S, Albrecht, H, Milne, RW & Wang, S 2016, 'Inhibition of Mnk enhances apoptotic activity of cytarabine in acute myeloid leukemia cells', Oncotarget, vol.7, no.35, pp.1-15. Open access 22 21 3
2016	Long, Y, Yu, M, Li, P, Islam, S, Goh, AW, Kumarasiri, M & Wang, S 2016, 'Synthesis and biological evaluation of heteroaryl styryl sulfone derivatives as anticancer agents', Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry Letters, vol. 26, no. 23, pp. 5674-5678. 14 15
2016	Rahaman, MH, Kumarasiri, M, Mekonnen, LB, Yu, M, Diab, S, Albrecht, H, Milne, RW & Wang, S 2016, 'Targeting CDK9: a promising therapeutic opportunity in prostate cancer', Endocrine-Related Cancer, vol. 23, no. 12, pp. T211-T226. Open access 63 58 5
2016	Wong, JK-H, Ast, S, Yu, M, Flehr, R, Counsell, AJ, Turner, P, Crisologo, P, Todd, MH & Rutledge, PJ 2016, 'Synthesis and evaluation of 1,8-disubstituted-cyclam/naphthalimide conjugates as probes for metal ions', ChemistryOpen, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 375-385. Open access 16 15
2016	Yu, M, Nagalingam, G, Ellis, S, Martinez, E, Sintchenko, V, Spain, M, Rutledge, PJ, Todd, MH & Triccas, JA 2016, 'Nontoxic metal-cyclam complexes, a new class of compounds with potency against drug-resistant mycobacterium tuberculosis', Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, vol. 59, no. 12, pp. 5917-5921. Open access 43 42
2015	Abdelaziz, AM, Yu, M, Li, P, Zhong, L, Singab, ANB, Hanna, AG, Abouzid, KA, Mekhael, MK & Wang, S 2015, 'Synthesis and evaluation of 5-chloro-2-methoxy-N-(4-sulphamoylphenyl) benzamide derivatives as anti-cancer agents', Medicinal Chemistry, vol. 5, no. 5, pp. 253-260. Open access
2015	Le, BT, Kumarasiri, M, Adams, JRJ, Yu, M, Milne, RW, Sykes, MJ & Wang, S 2015, 'Targeting Pim kinases for cancer treatment : opportunities and challenges', Future Medicinal Chemistry, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 35-53. 43 44 9
2015	MC Basnet, S, Diab, S, Schmid, R, Yu, M, Yang, Y, Gillam, TA, Teo, T, Li, P, Peat, T, Albrecht, H & Wang, S 2015, 'Identification of a highly conserved allosteric binding site on Mnk1 and Mnk2', Molecular Pharmacology, vol. 88, no. 5, pp. 935-948. Open access 15 15 3
2015	Teo, T, Lam, F, Yu, M, Yang, Y, MC Basnet, S, Albrecht, H, Sykes, M & Wang, S 2015, 'Pharmacologic inhibition of MNKs in acute myeloid leukemia', Molecular Pharmacology, vol. 88, no. 2, pp. 380-389. Open access 30 27 6
2015	Teo, T, Yang, Y, Yu, M, MC Basnet, S, Gillam, T, Hou, J, Schmid, R, Kumarasiri, M, Diab, S, Albrecht, H, Sykes, M & 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, vol. 103, pp. 539-550. 30 27 7
2015	Yu, M, Li, P, MC Basnet, S, Kumarasiri, M, Diab, S, Teo, T, Albrecht, H & 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, vol. 95, pp. 116-126. 37 37 3
2015	Zeleke, S, Yu, M, Kumarasiri, M, Le, BT & Wang, S 2015, 'Targeting CDK6 in cancer: state of the art and new insights', Cell Cycle, vol. 14, no. 20, pp. 3220-3230. Open access 126 120
2014	Diab, S, Kumarasiri, M, Yu, M, Teo, T, Proud, C, Milne, R & Wang, S 2014, 'MAP kinase-interacting kinases: emerging targets against cancer', Chemistry and Biology, vol. 21, no. 4, pp. 441-452. Open access 87 83
2014	Diab, S, Teo, THS, Kumarasiri, M, Li, P, Yu, M, Lam, F, MC Basnet, S, Sykes, MJ, Albrecht, H, Milne, R & 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: chemistry enabling drug discovery, vol. 9, no. 5, pp. 962-972. Open access 77 74
2014	Lu, T, Goh, AW, Yu, M, Adams, J, Lam, F, Teo, T, Li, P, Noll, B, Zhong, L, Diab, S, Chahrour, O, Hu, A, Abbas, AY, Liu, X, Huang, S, Sumby, CJ, Milne, R, Midgley, C & Wang, S 2014, 'Discovery of (E)-3-((styrylsulfonyl)methyl)pyridine and (E)-2-((styrylsulfonyl)methyl)pyridine derivatives as anticancer agents: synthesis, structure-activity relationships, and biological activities', Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, vol. 57, no. 6, pp. 2275-2291. Open access 30 28
2014	Teo, T, Yu, M, Yang, Y, Gillam, TA, Lam, F, Sykes, MJ & Wang, S 2014, 'Pharmacologic co-inhibition of Mnks and mTORC1 synergistically suppresses proliferation and perturbs cell cycle progression in blast crisis-chronic myeloid leukemia cells', Cancer Letters, vol. 357, pp. 612-623. 41 39
2013	Yu, M, Lim, NH, Ellis, S, Nagase, H, Triccas, JA, Rutledge, PJ & Todd, M H 2013, 'Incorporation of bulky and cationic cyclam-triazole moieties into marimastat can generate potent MMP inhibitory activity without inducing cytotoxicity', ChemistryOpen, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 99-105. Open access 12 12
2013	Yu, M, Yu, Q, Rutledge, PJ & Todd, MH 2013, 'A fluorescent allosteric scorpion and complex visualizes a biological recognition event', ChemBioChem: a European journal of chemical biology, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 224-229. Open access 19 17
2011	Yu, M, Price, JR, Jensen, P, Lovitt, CJ, Shelper, T, Duffy, S, Windus, LC, Avery, VM, Rutledge, PJ & Todd, MH 2011, 'Copper, nickel, and zinc cyclam-amino acid and cyclam-peptide complexes may be synthesized with "click" chemistry and are noncytotoxic', Inorganic Chemistry: Including Bioinorganic Chemistry, vol. 50, no. 24, pp. 12823-12835. 34 34
2010	Jiang, J, Zhao, M, Zhang, A, Yu, M, Lin, X, Wu, M, Wang, X, Lu, H, Zhu, S, Yu, Y, Mao, Z & Han, W 2010, 'Characterization of a GSK-3 inhibitor in culture of human cord blood primitive hematopoietic cells', Biomedicine and Pharmacotherapy, vol. 64, no. 7, pp. 482-486. 9 8
2010	Zhang, A, Yu, M, Lan, T, Liu, Z & Mao, Z 2010, 'Novel synthesis of 4-or 6-substituted indirubin derivatives', Synthetic Communications: An International Journal for Rapid Communication of Synthetic Organic Chemistry, vol. 40, no. 21, pp. 3125-3134. 15 14
2009	Xu, Y, Yu, M, Long, Y, Wu, H & Mao, Z 2009, 'Synthesis of pyrrolo[2,3-d]pyrimidine analogues: 'pyridine ring' analogues of pemetrexed', Heterocycles, vol. 78, no. 9, pp. 2353-2360.

Research

Patents

Details	Registry	Status
N-(pyridin-2-yl)-4-(thiazol-5-yl)pyrimidin-2-amine derivatives as therapeutic compounds Wang, Shudong; Zeleke, Solomon Tadesse; Yu, Mingfeng	WO	Filed

External engagement & recognition

Collaborations

External engagement & recognition

Collaborations

Organisation	Country
Ain Shams University	EGYPT
Cardiff University	UNITED KINGDOM
CSIRO Australia (Commonwealth Scientific Industrial Research organisation)	AUSTRALIA
Griffith University	AUSTRALIA
Lebanese American University	LEBANON
National Research Centre	EGYPT
Newcastle University, United Kingdom	UNITED KINGDOM
Open University	UNITED KINGDOM
Shanghai Jiao Tong University	CHINA
University College London	UNITED KINGDOM
University of Adelaide	AUSTRALIA
University of Newcastle	AUSTRALIA
University of Nottingham	UNITED KINGDOM
University of Oxford	UNITED KINGDOM
University of Potsdam	GERMANY
University of South Australia	AUSTRALIA
University of Southampton	UNITED KINGDOM
University of Sydney	AUSTRALIA
Westmead Hospital	AUSTRALIA
Yabao Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd	CHINA

External engagement & recognition

Engagement/recognition	Year
Chartered Member Royal Australian Chemical Institute (RACI)	2018
Member American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)	2018
Member American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)	2018

Teaching & student supervision

Research degree supervision

Supervisions from 2010 shown

Thesis title	Student status
Novel small-molecule inhibitors as potential anticancer agents: design, synthesis, and evaluation	Current
Derivatives of 4-(1H-pyrazol-4-yl)pyrimidine CDK2 inhibitors as potential anticancer agents: design, synthesis & evaluation	Completed
Design, synthesis, and evaluation of novel CDK2 inhibitors as potential anticancer agents	Completed
Discovery of cyclin-dependent kinase 2/5 inhibitors for the potential treatment of cancer	Completed
Discovery of novel inhibitors of MAPK-interacting kinases as anti-tumour agents	Completed
Novel inhibitors of cyclin-dependent kinases 4 and 6 as anticancer agents: design, synthesis and evaluation	Completed
Protein kinase inhibitors as potential anti-cancer agents: design, synthesis and evaluation	Completed

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Dr Mingfeng Yu

About me

About me

UniSA Clinical & Health Sciences

About me

Professional Associations

Experience

Qualifications

Research

Research focus

Projects

Outputs

Journal Articles

Patents

External engagement & recognition

Collaborations

Collaborations

External engagement & recognition

Chartered Member

Member

Member

Teaching & student supervision

Courses and programs

Research degree supervision

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