We have pioneered the development modelling frameworks for the mechano-sensitive response of eukaryotic cells with a focus on the role of the cytoskeleton and focal adhesions. A key insight was to develop an ensemble for the homeostatic equilibrium of cells even though from a conventional thermodynamics viewpoint, living cells are ultimate examples of non-equilibrium systems.

This has led to the development of a statistical mechanics framework for living cells, on par with conventional statistical thermodynamics, but yet accounting for the non-thermal fluctuations of cells and their subcellular components. The entropic forces associated with these non-thermal fluctuations help explain numerous non-intuitive phenomena including the alignment of cells in anisotropic environments and their mechano-sensitive spreading behaviour. Additionally, the framework has been expanded to include the dynamics of cell spreading, elongation, alignment and biochemical ordering in the context of geometrically anisotropic environments.