Acute respiratory tract infections account for substantial morbidity and mortality worldwide. The changing demographics of the population at risk, combined with the emergence of new and resistant microbial pathogens suggest that the burden of disease will almost certainly worsen. The 2016 Gordon Research Conference (GRC) on Biology of Acute Respiratory Tract Infection will highlight new paradigms in lung infection, including novel insights into pathogen recognition and cellular participants involved, antimicrobial effector mechanisms, regulation of lung injury and repair in respiratory infection, the development of lung immune memory, mechanisms of microbial pathogenesis, the lung microbiome in health and disease, emerging respiratory pathogens, genetic and environmental regulation of the host response, and strategies for the prevention, treatment, and profiling of the host response in patients with acute respiratory tract infections. An international group of experts have been assembled to provide cutting-edge overviews of these rapidly evolving fields. The GRC on Biology of Acute Respiratory Tract Infection provides an ideal venue for the creative and dynamic exchange between a multidisciplinary group of basic biologists, translational scientists, and clinical investigators. A fundamental understanding of basic mechanisms involved will foster the development of innovative approaches to the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of serious infections of the respiratory tract.