[2] Dunlop has been interviewed about skepticism, vaccines, and her research on several national radio and television programs, including Big Ideas, The Project, and Lateline.

[4] She then received an honours degree from the Department of Experimental Pharmacology and Toxicology at Adelaide University and a PhD in cell biology from Sydney Medical School in 2005.

She and her colleagues found that the bacteria (commonly known as blue-green algae) produce an amino acid called BMAA that causes cell death and triggers the onset of the fatal disease.

[8] Additionally, BMAA may be responsible for the extremely high prevalence of the disease among the indigenous people of Guam, who eat fruit bats that have ingested the seeds of plants growing amongst the cyanobacteria.

The program teaches students to use science and critical thinking to investigate claims of the paranormal, such as water divining, spoon bending, and firewalking.

[10] Much of Dunlop's advocacy as a skeptic is focused on countering the claims of the anti-vaccination movement, specifically the Australian Vaccination Network (AVN) and its former president Meryl Dorey.

In 2010 the AVN was ordered by the Health Care Complaints Commission to post a prominent warning on their website, but the organisation refused to comply and appealed the decision.

"[16] Dunlop argued in an editorial in The Guardian that media reporting of vaccine-related topics gives too much weight to voices from the anti-vaccine movement since they represent an insignificant minority compared to doctors and scientists who recommend vaccination.

"[19] In November 2013, the Australian Vaccination Network was ordered by the New South Wales Administrative Decisions Tribunal to change their name so that consumers are aware of the anti-vaccination nature of the group.