Systems biology as a tool to improve idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) treatment effectiveness. Systems biology as a tool to improve idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) treatment effectiveness. Harnessing the power of systems biology may provide explanations for discrepancies between in vitro/in vivo experiments and clinical trial results. These indicators can then be incorporated into more finely tuned experiments, which should result in more effective treatments. Maria Molina-Molina et al. ERJ Open Res 2017;3:00106-2017 ©2017 by European Respiratory Society