Dr Dodds' research focuses on fungal rust diseases of plants, which constitute one of the most significant threats to cereal crops worldwide. The recent emergence and spread of highly virulent wheat stem rust strains in Africa, including Ug99, is of particular concern to world food security.
Dr Dodds' has used the pathogenic interaction between flax and the flax rust fungus as a model for understanding the basis of rust disease as well as host resistance mechanisms. Resistance to rust disease is governed by the gene-for-gene model, where resistance depends on an interaction between host resistance (R) genes pathogen avirulence (Avr) genes.