Lazzarini was recruited in 1990 to study ataxia as part of the RWJMS new William Dow Lovett Center for Neurogenetics.
In the early 90s, she was a member of the team studying neurodegenerative syndromes including olivopontocerebellar atrophy (a degeneration of neurons in the brain present in syndromes such as Machado-Joseph disease) and spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA).
 To study the causes of SCA, the researchers first had to locate a family having a large number of members with the disease; according to UMDNJ, Lazzarini "established a pedigree that may be the largest in North America".
 One of Lazzarini's patients had located family records the led to a hundreds of individuals in one family encompassing eight generations and including 21 members who had the disease.
 Lazzarini located another physician who was following a distant cousin of the same family, yielding a combined pedigree of thousands of family members dating to the 17th century.
 In the 1995 "W" Family Newsletter published by the UMDNJ-RWJMS Department of Neurology, Division of Neurogenetics, Lazzarini wrote: "We have found the 'W' [Whipple] family gene! ...

While observing large family trees with many individuals having ataxia, Lazzarini noticed that many family members also had restless legs syndrome.
Lazzarini is published in the fields of X-linked intellectual disability and other neurologic disorders such as restless legs syndrome, Charcot–Marie–Tooth disease, and prion diseases.
She has been a contributor as well to the literature on genetic counseling.
Lazzarini was recruited in 1990 to study ataxia as part of the RWJMS new William Dow Lovett Center for Neurogenetics. In the early 90s, she was a member of the team studying neurodegenerative syndromes including olivopontocerebellar atrophy (a degeneration of neurons in the brain present in syndromes such as Machado-Joseph disease) and spinocerebellar ataxia (SCA).  To study the causes of SCA, the researchers first had to locate a family having a large number of members with the disease; according to UMDNJ, Lazzarini "established a pedigree that may be the largest in North America".  One of Lazzarini's patients had located family records the led to a hundreds of individuals in one family encompassing eight generations and including 21 members who had the disease.  Lazzarini located another physician who was following a distant cousin of the same family, yielding a combined pedigree of thousands of family members dating to the 17th century.  In the 1995 "W" Family Newsletter published by the UMDNJ-RWJMS Department of Neurology, Division of Neurogenetics, Lazzarini wrote: "We have found the 'W' [Whipple] family gene! ...
While observing large family trees with many individuals having ataxia, Lazzarini noticed that many family members also had restless legs syndrome. Lazzarini is published in the fields of X-linked intellectual disability and other neurologic disorders such as restless legs syndrome, Charcot–Marie–Tooth disease, and prion diseases. She has been a contributor as well to the literature on genetic counseling.
Alice Lazzarini