The disclosure provides a device for measuring cellular responses under controlled environments. The disclosure also provides an array of devices for measuring cellular responses under controlled environments. The disclosure also provides methods to study cell signaling using the devices. By using microfluidics, the disclosure enables study of cell signaling under well-defined environment conditions. Such capability can be used for differentiating long-acting ligands from short-acting ligands, for determining the kinetics of receptor resensitization and functional recovery of receptor signaling, and for differentiating the sensitivity of a cell type to laminar flow-induced stress force. Through combination with conventional static label-free cell assays, the full spectrum of a drug compound can be studied in details, thus creating a complete representation of its pharmacology acting on living cells.