Biological phenomena at the cellular level can be represented by various types of mathematical formulations. Such representations allow us to carry out numerical simulations that provide mechanistic insights into complex behaviours of biological systems and also generate hypotheses that can be experimentally tested. Currently, we are particularly interested in spatio-temporal representations of dynamic cellular phenomena and how such models can be used to understand biological specificity in functional responses. This review describes the capability and limitations of the approaches used to study spatio-temporal dynamics of cell signalling components.