King in recent years has developed a deep interest in studying the genetic factors influencing schizophrenia. In collaboration with other scientists including Judith L. Rapoport, Jonathan Sebat, and Deborah L. Levy, she has discovered evidence that suggests that schizophrenia may be linked to the presence of genetic mutations called copy number variations (CNVs) in pathways involved in neural development. A percentage of such variations may occur spontaneously as a result of copying errors in cells.
