The 5th Micro and Nano Flows Conference was held at the Politechnico Di Milano between 11 and 14 of September 2016, see . The MNF Conference series originated in Strathclyde University in 2006 and was followed by meetings at Brunel University London in 2009, the Aristotle University Thessaloniki in 2011, and the University College London in 2014. A total of 145 papers were presented by colleagues from around the world at MNF2016. Keynote lectures were presented by leading experts highlighting recent research developments in thermofluid and biomedical micro flows. Twelve papers were selected for this special edition and were reviewed according to the criteria used by the Journal of Heat Transfer Engineering.