This article represents the proceedings of a symposium at the 2002 RSA-ISBRA Meeting in San Francisco. The chairs were Vinood B. Patel and Victor R. Preedy. The presentations were (1) Macromolecular structural analysis, by Vinood B. Patel; (2) Profiling and imaging of proteins in tissue sections using mass spectrometry as a discovery tool in biological research, by Pierre Chaurand and Richard M. Caprioli; (3) The use of SELDI ProteinChip trade mark arrays, by Brian M. Austen, Emma R. Frears, Francesca Manca, and Huw Davies; (4) DNA hybridization array technologies, by Kent E. Vrana; and (5) Adeno- and adeno-associated viral mediated gene transfer approaches for alcoholic liver disease, by Michael Wheeler. Concluding remarks were by Victor R. Preedy.