Midwest Algebra, Geometry and their Interactions Conference MAGIC05 University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame October 7-11, 2005 Algebraic Statistics for Computational Biology by Bernd STURMFELS, University Abstract: We discuss recent interactions between algebra and statistics and their emerging applications to computational biology. Statistical models of independence and alignments for DNA sequences will be illustrated by means of a fictional character, DiaNA, who rolls tetrahedral dice with face labels `A,' `C,' `G' and `T.'