Malisa Sarntinoranont

Education  

• Ph.D., Mechanical Engineering, University of California at Berkeley
• M.S., Mechanical Engineering, University of California at Berkeley    
• B.M.E., Mechanical Engineering, Georgia Tech                         

Professional Experience

• Professor & Director of the Soft Tissue Mechanical and Drug Delivery Laboratory, Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE), University of Florida, 2020 to Present
• Associate Professor, UF MAE, 2009 to 2020
• Affiliate Faculty, UF Biomedical Engineering, 2004 to Present
• Assistant Professor, UF MAE, 2003 to 2009
• Research Fellow, National Institutes of Health, 1999 to 2003

Professional Society Activities

• AIMBE Fellow
• ASME Fellow
• Co-Chair of the 6th Biennial CSF Dynamics Symposium, 2022
• ASME Executive Committee, Member Affairs, Bioengineering Division,  2016-2019
• Steering Committee and Student Awards Coordinator, ASME Global Congress on Nanoengineering for Medicine and Biology, 2014 & 2015
• Organizing Committee, Publications Chair, Summer Biomechanics, Bioengineering and Biotransport Conference (SB³C), 2015
• Local Arrangements Chair, ASME Summer Bioengineering Conference, 2013

UF Activities

• Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering, 2025-2026
• Associate Chair of Faculty Affairs, UF MAE, 2023-2025
• Graduate Coordinator, 2016-2021
• NSF REU Coordinator (Fall 2018-Present). Co-PI for NSF REU Engineering for Healthcare program with Douglas Spearot (PI). 

Bio

For most of my career, I have been interested in understanding the effects of increased and abnormal fluid flows on disease and therapy. Few other investigators study fluid flow within extracellular (interstitial/parenchyma) spaces that exist inside tissues; however, these flows can have a profound effect on disease, remodeling of tissues, and drug delivery. My lab has focused on developing image-based computational models that predict 3D flows, deformations and tracer patterns within brain, spinal cord and tumors. Ultimately, these computational models may be used to predict patient-specific drug delivery.

My mechanics research has focused on coupled fluid-solid interactions, residual stress, and injury within these same, very soft tissues. I take a data-driven approach to modeling, and my lab is one of few research groups leading the development of computational biotransport models in conjunction with validation studies. Models need to be built upon extensive experimental observations, otherwise it is easy to reach conclusions that are not useful.  Since much of this type of information is missing for the central nervous system and tumors, this has meant doing our own experiments and collaborating with other neuroscientists, neurosurgeons, and physicists to better understand transport and mechanics problems of most interest to us.