The program of this Gordon Research Conference is dedicated to understanding both the chemistry and biology of Nucleosides, Nucleotides, and Oligonucleotides. There is hardly a cellular process where these compounds are not involved, and analogs of these metabolites have found applications in biotechnology, biology, and medicine. Study of this metabolic pathway has been particularly fruitful in the discovery of numerous anticancer and antiviral drugs where there are at least 32 FDA approved agents to treat these diseases. In addition, there have been great advances in the use of various oligonucleotides as research tools and medical treatments. The 2013 Nucleosides, Nucleotides, and Oligonucleotides Gordon Research Conference will bring together Chemists, Molecular Biologists, Biochemists, Biologists, and others interested in understanding all aspects of the enzymes involved in nucleic acid metabolism. A complete understanding of this metabolic pathway is vital to the understanding of various disease processes and the discovery of new agents that could be used to treat these diseases. The program will have a keynote lecture and eight sessions that broadly address current issues in nucleic acid chemistry, DNA repair, discovery of anticancer and antiviral agents, synthetic biology, nucleotide signaling molecules, enzymology of purine and pyrimidine metabolism, and RNA structure and function. An important focus of the meeting is the understanding the chemistry associated with the enzymes of nucleic acid metabolism, and the presentations in this Gordon Conference are designed to increase our basic understanding of this important metabolic process so that it can be exploited for the creation of new drugs.