The 2016 Gordon Research Conference on Ion Channels will continue a long tradition of bringing together leading researchers to share unpublished, cutting-edge research focused on the proteins responsible for electrical signaling in the nervous systems and other tissues of vertebrate and invertebrate organisms. The meeting will address the fundamental basis of ion channel structure and function, including mechanisms of regulation and modulation and the contribution of ion channels to cellular physiology, in health and disease. We have designed the 2016 meeting agenda to cover a broad range of ion channels, including thermo- and mechano-sensitive ion channels, and to showcase new genetic approaches to ion channel research, which allow one to begin to identify the full complexity of channels within a cell type. Invited speakers and discussion leaders have been chosen to generate a program that both covers the breadth of ion channel research, and presents the most cutting-edge research. In addition, all participants are asked to submit an abstract for presentation in the poster session, from which approximately ten short talks will be chosen. We strongly encourage graduate students and post-doctoral fellows to apply to both the 2016 Ion channels GRC and to the GRS held immediately before the meeting.