Her work has "led to the discovery of new genes involved in genetic diseases such as deafness and epilepsy".
[4] She is a member of the team of scientists affiliated with the Lowy Medical Research Institute (LMRI) studying the genetic basis for macular telangiectasia type 2.
Professor Bahlo is Theme Leader and Laboratory Head at WEHI, where her groups work focusses on developing and applying state-of-the-art methods to understand complex genetic datasets to discover the genetic causes of human disorders such as epilepsy, ataxia, dementia, motor neuron disease, Parkinson’s disease, speech disorders and retinal disorders.
[6] Bahlo and colleagues (Mark Bennett and Haloom Rafehi) from WEHI (formally known as the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research) were members of an international consortium responsible for discovering two new gene mutations responsible for a rare type of epilepsy.
[7] Bahlo and colleagues also undertook pivotal work identifying five genetic risk locations in people who may be at risk of an inherited eye disease that can cause blindness, Macular Telangiectasia type 2.