Models of Cellular Mechanosensation

Over the past decade, theoretical and experimental work in mechanobiology has become increasingly interdependent, with modeling now serving as an essential tool for interpreting experiments and guiding measurements. Cellular mechanosensation, the conversion of mechanical cues into biochemical signals, governs essential processes such as migration, polarization, lineage specification, and tissue homeostasis, and its dysregulation contributes to disease. Quantitative models of mechanosensation have been central to clarifying how cells detect and respond to force across multiple scales, from ion channels and molecular bonds to adhesions, cytoskeletal dynamics, nuclear deformation, and transcriptional regulators such as YAP/TAZ (Yes-associated protein and transcriptional coactivator with PDZ-binding motif). In this chapter, we survey both experimental and theoretical advances in mechanosensation, emphasizing how mathematical and computational models complement experiments, expose limitations, and generate testable hypotheses and conceptual frameworks.