The major recent technological advances in Molecular Biology have brought with them an explosion of molecular data. Scientific progress has in many cases already depended in the development and application of novel statistical and mathematical methodology. As the underlying technology changes, and the realms to which it is applied expand, much future progress will depend crucially on statistical developments. These in turn must be closely informed by the underlying science. One major goal of the meeting is to bring together leading researchers from several relevant fields in order to provide a form for the dissemination and discussion of recent and ongoing work in the field. The AMS-IMS-SIAM Joint Summer Research Conferences are a series of seven conferences held consecutively over a six week period. They have been held annually since 1983. the 1997 Conference will be held at the University of Washington, in Seattle, Washington.