Professor Dawes has made significant contributions to eukaryotic gene regulation during cell development and responses to the environment. His studies of yeast sporulation provided a detailed understanding of metabolism during meiosis and identified the motif that regulates specific gene expression during meiosis. He was first to show that eukaryotes can mount adaptable responses to oxidative stress and by combining biochemical, genetic and genomic analyses he has made a substantial contribution to elucidating mechanisms whereby cells adapt, maintain resistance, and respond, to oxidants. A significant outcome of this regulation research was identification of a novel system controlling one-carbon metabolism in yeast.