Professor Graves has made seminal contributions to the understanding of mammalian genome organisation and evolution, exploiting the genetic diversity of Australia's unique mammals as a source of genetic variation to study highly conserved genetic structures and processes. She has used this strategy particularly to shed light on the organisation, function and evolution of mammalian genomes, and is particularly well known for her theories of the origin and evolution of human sex chromosomes and sex determining genes. In addition, she is well known for her classic contributions to our understanding of the molecular mechanism of X chromosome inactivation and the control of DNA synthesis in mammalian cells.